Chennai: The Erode police arrested a mother, her paramour and an intermediary for forcing a minor girl to sell her gamete cell, also called as an oocyte or egg, to infertility hospitals in the state on Thursday. In the past five years, the girl has donated eggs eight times to various private hospitals.
According to a report on The Hindu, Erode South Police said that Indrirani (38) left her husband with her daughter and started to live with her paramour Syed Ali (40) some 13 years back.
Five years ago, the girl attained puberty at the age of 12 and soon Syed Ali started to sexually assault her even with the knowledge of her mother.
In this backdrop, Indrirani who is also tout for Sudha Hospital using an intermediary K Malathi started to force the girl to sell her oocyte.
The girl sold her oocyte in private hospitals in Erode, Salem, Perundurai and Hosur since 2017. Each time the girl donated the eggs, her mother and Syed Ali used to receive Rs 20,000 while Malathi got Rs 5,000 from the hospitals, said the report.
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The girl donated the eggs even though she was a minor since her mother forged the Aadhaar card to show that she was an adult. The mother also changed the birth year on the Adhaar card as 1995.
However, the issue came to light after the girl who had gone to her relative's house in Salem in May narrated the ordeal to them.
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Following this, the relatives lodged a complaint against Indirani and two others with Erode South Police. The police later arrested them.
The survivor was rescued from her home and admitted to Government Hospital in Erode, said a report on PTI.
Further investigations are on.