Health depts busts nexus that conducted illegal sex determination

According to the FIR filed in the matter, the suspect charged ₹35,000-45,000 for sex determination tests and abortion.

In a joint operation, the Gurugram health department and Uttar Pradesh Police busted a foetal sex determination racket from Uttar Pradesh’s Etah district on Thursday that led to the arrest of three persons, including a Gurugram resident.

The suspect allegedly took pregnant women from the district to Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to abort female foetuses (File photo)

A health department official said they acted on a tip on Gurugram’s Devilal Nagar resident Satyendra Pratap Singh who allegedly took pregnant women from the district to Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to abort female foetuses, a crime under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition Of Sex Selection) Act​ (PCPNDT).

According to the FIR filed in the matter, the suspect charged ₹35,000-45,000 for sex determination tests and abortion.

On Thursday, the health department deployed a decoy “customer” who approached Singh. Singh allegedly took ₹35,000 from the woman at Devilal Nagar and together made their way to Etah where they allegedly met a doctor of a local hospital on Aligarh Road.

The doctor was paid around ₹14,500 to conduct an immediate sex determination test, officials said. On his directions, the woman was then taken to another clinic allegedly run by two other suspects who the officials identified as local residents Sanjeev Kumar and Ruchi. There an ultrasound test confirmed a female foetus, said the official.

The FIR states that Kumar and Ruchi allegedly confessed that they did not have a medical education or a qualification to conduct the ultrasound, and that their clinic was not registered under PCPNDT Act.

Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, said, “Illegal ultrasound machines have been recovered from the spot. The FIR was filed under several sections of the PCPNDT Act and Indian Medical Council Act late Thursday night after the Gurugram health teams along with the Etah police busted the nexus. In the last few months, several such raids have been conducted. It shows that a network exists in Delhi and UP for illegal abortions.”