The remains of 19 female foetuses have been found near a hospital in India, following a police investigation into a suspected illegal abortion racket.
The discovery was made by police following the death of a 26-year-old woman from a suspected botched abortion at the Bharati hospital in the western state of Maharashtra.
The all-female foetus remains were found dumped in blue plastic bags in a stream next to the hospital.
“So far we have found the remains of 19 female foetuses that were aborted and buried with the intention of disposing them,” Police Superintendent Dattatray Shinde is cited as telling reporters.
"It appears to be an abortion racket. We have arrested the husband of the woman, and have launched a manhunt for the doctor who has gone missing," Shinde said.
According to Shinde, a suspect named as Dr Babasaheb Khidrapure performed the abortion after the woman’s husband brought her to his clinic. The doctor is reported to hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Homoeopathy.
Prenatal sex determination was banned in the country in 1994 in an effort to prevent sex-selective abortion.
Last year a woman was set on fire by her husband’s family after a soothsayer predicted she would carry a girl, not a boy.
READ MORE: Relatives attempt to set pregnant Indian woman on fire after oracle predicts baby girl
In 2012 India was ranked the worst G20 country in which to be born a woman and one of the worst countries for women in the world by TrustLaw, a legal news service.