Ban On Sex Determination

According to PN- PNDT Act it is illegal to determine the sex of an unborn child or even use sex technologies. The government has continued to enforce strict laws on pre-natal sex determination tests in the country. The Union Heath Ministry informed Lok Sabha about 294 cases that have been filed against illegal sonography clinics. Supreme Court has ordered all the states to take strict action against pre-natal sex determination. Delhi has filed cases against 54 diagnostic clinics for non-registration. After Maharashtra, the capital has the second highest number of non-registered diagnostic clinics in the country.

The state authorities across India have filed around 2371 cases in criminal courts, out of which 294 cases have been filed for non-registration of diagnostic clinics since 2014-15.Maharashtra has the largest number of illegal sonography clinics (74) followed by Delhi (54), Haryana (41), Chhattisgarh (31), Punjab (25), Uttar Pradesh (18) and Rajasthan (15).

The minister told Parliament "As per quarterly progress reports submitted by states/ UTs, 103 court cases were filed during 2014-15, as many as 190 during 2015-16 and 133 in 2016-17. Till March 2017, as many as 2,371 cases were pending before various criminal courts while 1,132 cases had been decided under the The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 2003 - resulting in 416 convictions and 114 suspension/ cancellation of medical licences of the convicted doctors," .

According to National Family Health Survey, a large number of illegal sonography clinics are responsible for lowering the female population in the state due to widely occurring sex selective abortions. As a result, the sex ratio is expected to be poor.

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