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RANCHI: State health secretary Nidhi Khare on Thursday asked the Chatra civil surgeon to book two "doctors" in Itkhori block who allegedly cut off the genitals of a newborn boy leading to the child’s death.

The newborn died at Om Clinic on Tuesday night when eight-month pregnant Gudia Devi , a resident of of Itkhori’s Jai Prakash Nagar in Chatra district, about 110km from here, came for a check-up. Chatra police said in a bid to get more money from the patient, the "doctors" at the clinic said they would have to perform ultrasound test and caesarian to deliver the child. After conducting the "fake test" they told the parents that the child was female. But when Devi gave birth to a boy, the two "doctors" allegedly severed his genitals, told the mother that a deformed girl child was born and died soon after.

Unsatisfied with the answer, the parents lodged a complaint with the police on Wednesday morning. Police said by the time they reached the clinic, the "doctors" had gone missing. A case has been registered under Section 302 of IPC in this connection and started raids to nab the accused. Khare asked the Chatra civil surgeon to book the duo under the Clinical Establishments Act, Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPDNT) Act and the Medical Practitioner Act. It is yet to be known whether the two were certified doctors or quacks.

"It is a terrible crime. I have asked the civil surgeon to take strict action in the case as per the rules of various acts," Khare said. She also said the government is taking up measures to end sex determination tests in the state within the next three months.

