A 22-year-old woman says she was injected with infected blood under the pretext of being treated for anaemia after an illegal ultrasound revealed the sex of her baby
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A pregnant Indian woman has accused her husband and her in-laws of injecting her with HIV-infected blood after they found out she was carrying a baby girl, the Times of India reported on Friday.
The 22-year-old woman, who is seven months pregnant, told police in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh that she had contracted HIV/AIDS after her relatives injected her with contaminated blood for several months following an illegal ultrasound test that revealed she was carrying a girl.
In parts of India, a strong preference for male children has seen millions of female foetuses being aborted over the last decade, despite gender tests being banned in the country.
Police said they had registered a complaint against the woman's husband, in-laws and a family relative who is a doctor. The family injected her with the blood under the pretext they were treating her with anaemia, the report said.
Police said an investigation was underway.
"The accused are on the run and efforts are on to arrest them," Y. Ramarao, police inspector in the town of Bapatla, was quoted as saying. "The woman is undergoing medical tests and the reports are expected within two days."
The preference for male babies and abortions of female foetuses have led to a decline in the number of women in certain regions of India. According to India's 2011 census, there were only 940 women to every 1,000 men.
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