Third conviction under PNDT act in Haryana/Punjab

Chandigarh, Mar 29 (UNI) A doctor and his ultra-sound technician were sentenced to two years imprisonment by a local court for conducting sex determination tests at Palwal in Faridabad district.

They have also been fined Rs 5000 each for being found guilty of violating the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (regulation and prevention of misuse) Act (PNDT Act). In case of non-payment of fine, they shall have to undergo simple imprisonment of three months more.

The sentence, for the third such incident of conviction was pronounced by the Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Palwal.

He held Dr Anil Sabhani of Dr Anil's Ultra Sound, his ultrasound machine technician Kartar Singh guilty and convicted them under the Pre-natal diagnostic technique (regulation and prevention of misuse), Act, 1994 and the rules framed there-under 1996.

The case against the accused was initiated on the complaint of the Civil Surgeon, Faridabad who is designated by the Haryana government as the appropriate authority under section 17(2) of the PNDT act for initiating proceedings in case of complaint of misuse of the facility of pre-natal tests.

Earlier, a doctor of Gurgaon was also convicted for violating the PNDT act which was the second such conviction. The first conviction was pronounced by the Kharar court in Punjab in July 2003 against a lady doctor of Ropar district.

After conclusion of the arguments in the Palwal case, the court observed that the accused did not deserve any leniency as it was due to the illegal acts of persons due to which the sex ratio in the country and Haryana was declining rapidly and the day was not far off when there would no girl child around. In the present case, the convicts orally conveyed the sex of the foetus to the concerned persons for which they have worked out their own sex determination code, the court observed.

The judicial magistrate quoted media reports which stated that " if the doctor tells us to come and get the report on Monday, we know it is boy. Friday means a girl. Though some others adopted different modus operandi, that is signature in red ink was to indicate a girl and blue for boy." It was further observed that it was a serious crime to kill someone who could defend himself, but this was even far more serious offence where a person kills someone who is not even in a stage to defend himself.

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