By IANS
Tiruchirappally (Tamil Nadu) : A doctor couple in Tamil Nadu who allegedly allowed their 15-year-old son to perform a caesarean section, were Monday detained by the police for questioning.
Dileepan Raj, a Class X student, is said to have performed a caesarean operation in April under his parents' supervision at the Mathi Surgical and Maternity Hospital in Manapparai, about 350 km from the state capital Chennai.
Dileepan's parents K. Murugesan and Gandhimathi are medical practitioners and apparently wanted him to enter record books as the youngest surgeon in the world.
Murugesan, however, later denied the charges and averred that the operation was performed by him while his son watched. The boy is now missing and police are searching for him.
The couple were whisked away from their clinic-cum-residence in the morning to the nearby Valanadu police station on the orders of Tiruchirappally District Collector Ashish Vachani.
The collector had earlier ordered an enquiry into the incident.
At a meeting of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on May 6, Murugesan told doctors that his son had performed the gynaecological procedure.
Murugesan showed a CD of the operation to the shocked IMA gathering. Doctors said that when he was criticised Murugesan said he was not doing anything illegal. He argued that if a 10-year-old is allowed to drive a car and if a 15-year-old could graduate as a doctor in the US then his son can perform a surgery.
The Manapparai branch of the IMA then held an urgent meeting and sent a report to the IMA committee in Chennai demanding action against the family. The association has now passed a resolution seeking action against Murugesan.
Murugesan later retracted his claim and said his son had "looked on in curiosity and had not performed the surgery".
Police sources said they have seized several computers, CDs and a video camera from the couple's residence and hope to find the recording of the caesarean done by Dileepan.
According to local media reports, the relatives of the woman on whom the surgery was performed have said that both mother and child are fine.