HC refuses to quash FIR against lady doctor caught in-camera

Allahabad, May 31 (UNI) Allahabad High Court has refused to quash the FIR lodged against a lady doctor and stay her arrest after she was caught in-camera while agreeing to conduct abortion of a woman carrying a female foetus.

The FIR was lodged against Dr Varsha Gautam on April 11, by the Chief Medical Officer, Agra. The sting operation was carried out by a Hindi news channel.

The petitioner's counsel argued that agreeing to perform an abortion was an expression of intention and it related to the stage of preparation only. It did not amount to an attempt to commit an offence, punishable under Section 312/511 IPC.

It was urged the woman had already got her foetus' sex determined elsewhere by sonography. Hence, no offence under the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act 1994 was disclosed against the petitioner. According to Section 28 of the Act, a court could only take cognizance on a complaint by the appropriate authority.

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