20 Years Jail for Indian Immigrant in US

An Indian immigrant in Indiana, 33 year-old Purvi Patel becomes the first woman ever convicted in Indiana for female foeticide and only the second to be accused of this kind of crime. In 2013 Ms.Patel was accused for resorting to self abortion using some abortion medicines she got from ordering them online from Hong Kong.

After losing her preganancy in bathroom and dumping the infant in a dumpster outside her parent’s restaurant, Ms.Patel had to go for emergency medical help because of profuse bleeding due to forced abortion. Inevitably police got into the scene and after interrogation and checking her cell phone, a case was filed on her for illegal abortion.

Last month Patel was convicted in the illegal abortion case and on Sunday she was sentenced to 20 years of jail according to the laws of the state of Indiana. While the law took its own course, there is also certain outcry on use of laws to criminalise women who have problems with unwanted preganancy. Purvi Patel too had her set of supporters who advocate to protect the rights of South-East Asian women.