Chandigarh, Jun 21 (PTI) A joint team of PC&PNDT officials from Haryana’s Jhajjar and Charkhi Dadri busted an interstate sex determination racket operating in Bihar’s Gaya, arresting four persons, including two agents, an official said on Sunday.
The raid at an ultrasound centre in Bihar’s Gaya led to the arrest of four persons, including two Haryana-based agents, an “illegal” ultrasound centre operator and a man posing as a sonologist, Haryana Health and Family Welfare Additional Chief Secretary Sumita Misra said in an official statement.
She said that cases have been registered against all four accused under provisions of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, the BNS, and the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, According to Misra, the District Appropriate Authorities (under the PCPNDT Act) of Jhajjar and Charkhi Dadri received information last week about pregnant women from Jhajjar, Dadri and adjoining areas being taken to Bihar for illegal fetal sex determination by Surender and Rakesh Yadav, both residents of Jhajjar district.
Acting on the input, the Jhajjar District Appropriate Authority constituted a special team comprising Dr Sandeep Kumar, Nodal Officer (PCPNDT), Dr Basant Kumar Dubey and Vinod Kumar from Jhajjar, along with Dr Udaybha and Dr Sandeep from Charkhi Dadri.
As part of a decoy operation, a pregnant woman was deployed as a decoy customer, accompanied by a man posing as her husband.
The accused allegedly agreed to conduct the illegal sex determination test for Rs 50,000 and called the decoy customer to Chhuchhakwas on the night of June 19. The woman was then taken to Tikari town in Bihar’s Gaya, with the joint PNDT teams following the vehicle from a safe distance.
Misra said that on reaching Tikari, the accused took the woman to an ultrasound centre, which was allegedly being run illegally.
Centre operator Ramashray Prasad and Gulshan Kumar, who allegedly posed as a sonologist, conducted an ultrasound examination, disclosing that the “foetus was male”, she said, according to the official statement.
On receiving confirmation from the decoy’s companion, the joint PNDT teams, assisted by officials authorised by the Gaya District Magistrate, raided the centre.
During the raid, the teams apprehended the four — Prasad, Kumar, Surender and Yadav — and recovered an illegal ultrasound machine from the premises.
They were subsequently handed over to Gaya’s Tikari Police Station for further legal action, with a case registered under relevant provisions of the PCPNDT Act, the BNS and the NMC Act.
The statement also urged citizens to report any information regarding illegal sex determination activities to the Civil Surgeon’s office or district PNDT authorities in Haryana, reiterating that both conducting and undergoing pre-natal sex determination are punishable offences carrying imprisonment of three to five years.
Those providing credible information leading to action against such offenders would be eligible for a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh, with their identity kept strictly confidential, it said. PTI SUN SHS
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