Parents 'induced' abortion: Ibrahim's daughter

Congress leader C M Ibrahim’s daughter Iffa Afza has accused her parents of “pressuring” her to get aborted from the day her pregnancy was confirmed, and suspected that her family was involved in the “forced abortion”.

In a written statement to police on Thursday, she said, “I do not know who gave me what, but it is obvious that I was given something by my family.”

Iffa told DH at Vikram Hospital on Thursday that she was left in a critical condition at the hospital and that her parents didn’t even enquire about her health. “This adds to my belief that they were involved in this abortion,” she said. She underwent an abortion on January 2.

The statement, which DH has seen, reads, “The doctor told my husband something was consumed due to which pain was induced. I found it almost impossible to believe as I had not had anything that would have caused anything close to what had happened.”

Iffa said she was shocked when the doctor told her it was not a miscarriage but an incomplete abortion. “... it (the doctor’s opinion) implied that I was given something without my knowledge that has caused me to lose my almost four-month-old foetus,” the statement reads.

When asked whether she holds her parents responsible for the abortion, Iffa said, “My father told me if I want to be accepted in his home, I need to abort this pregnancy. My heart never agreed to it. Later, my mother called me frequently to pressure me to go for abortion. It is not difficult to assume they were involved in this.”

The statement also says that she was pressured to take an appointment for medical termination of pregnancy at Vikram Hospital. The appointment was for December 26. But she cancelled it as her husband, Faizal, strictly told her “not to indulge in such an act”.

When asked why her parents would force her to abort the pregnancy, she said the motive was to break her marriage. “They never liked this relationship. From the beginning, they have been trying to break my marriage with Faizal, which was against their wish. Finally, they resorted to this,” she alleged.

Iffa also said the hospital was not handing the foetus over to her husband’s family. “We need to perform several rituals and bury it. But the hospital has refused to give it, saying it’s a medico-legal case,” she said.

Police said the foetus could not be handed over to the family as it was part of evidence. “A complaint has been filed. We need to investigate whether the abortion involved criminality. We have sought information from the hospital,” a senior police officer said.