Sex determination racket busted in Patiala, ex-health worker held for fifth time in 11 yrs

Patiala health department team recovers Portable ultrasound machine, MTP kit from accused booked under allegedly violating the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act.

A team of the Patiala health department has claimed to have busted a sex determination racket with the arrest of accused Meena Rani and her accomplice Jarnail Singh. Rani, a former employee of the health department, has now been arrested for the fifth time in 11 years for allegedly violating the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act.

The raiding team seized a portable ultrasound machine, a medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) kit and three mobile phones from the accused.

The duo was arrested during a raid conducted by the Patiala health department team led by district family planning officer (DFPO) Dr Balkar Singh and local police.

Rani had earlier worked as an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) under the National Health Mission (NHM), Punjab. Besides Punjab, she has also been booked by the Haryana Police. According to Punjab Police records, Rani was first booked in 2015 under the PC-PNDT Act and other offences. She was again booked twice in 2018, once in 2022 and now in 2026 for a similar offence.

Before the latest arrest, Rani and her alleged accomplice Jarnail Singh were arrested in 2023 after being caught red-handed by the Barnala health department team led by then civil surgeon Dr Jasbir Aulakh.

Explaining the modus operandi, Dr Singh said the team acted on a tip-off and sent a decoy patient, who contacted Jarnail Singh. “A deal was struck to determine the sex of the foetus for ₹22,000. The amount has also been recovered by the health department during the raid,” he said.

The decoy was asked to reach a designated location in the city, from where Jarnail took her to another place where Rani was already waiting. After conducting the ultrasound examination, the accused dropped the decoy and attempted to flee after becoming suspicious. “However, they were apprehended by the raiding team,” the DEFO said.

Retired civil surgeon Dr Aulakh, who had led a raid in 2023, said he had unearthed nine cases of illegal sex determination during my stint in the health department. “In all nine cases, the police failed to trace the source of the portable ultrasound machines, which need to be mandatorily registered at the time of purchase,” he said.