A diagnostic centre owner was arrested and sent to jail for illegally selling a sonography machine in Jobner town of Jaipur district.
The machine, a diagnostic tool used to see internal body structures and find a source of a disease, is also misused to examine a pregnant woman to determine the sex of a foetus. The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 – amended in 2003 and 2011 – prohibits determination of the sex of a foetus.
After getting a tip-off that Murlidhar Jat of PD X-ray and Diagnostic Centre in Jobner was trying to sell the sonography machine, PCPNDT cell officials laid a trap and went to him as customers on Friday evening.
“Jat took the officials to a rented house where he had hidden the machine and struck a deal for ₹60,000. The team arrested Jat when he handed over the machine,” PCPNDT state appropriate authority Naveen Jain said on Saturday.
Jat was produced in the PCPNDT court, which sent him to a 14-day judicial custody.
Jain said Jat purchased a new sonography machine after the old one became dysfunctional. “Jat was contacting many middlemen to sell the old machine for ₹70,000. After we were tipped off by an informer, the PCPNDT cell arrested the owner of the centre and seized the machine.”
A case was earlier registered against Jat for sex determination, but the court released him giving him benefit of doubt, Jain said. “The PD X-ray and Diagnostic Centre owner continued to use the sonography machine illegally for years.”
{{/usCountry}}A case was earlier registered against Jat for sex determination, but the court released him giving him benefit of doubt, Jain said. “The PD X-ray and Diagnostic Centre owner continued to use the sonography machine illegally for years.”
{{/usCountry}}He said, “According to the PCPDNT Act, keeping an unregistered sonography machine is as danagerous as keeping a gun or revolver without licence.”
Additional SP Raghuveer Singh led the PCPDNT team comprising sub-inspector Vikram Sewawat, Barmer coordinator Vikram Singh Champawat, head constable Sanwarmal, and NGO representative Vikas Rahal.