According to the records of Directorate, Public Health, out of 294 cases registered till November under the Act, 56 cases have been cleared till now. Out of those, only 21 cases have convicted the guilty — only 37% conviction rate.
While the state is busy campaigning for ‘Save the girl child’ and seizing sonography machines to curb sex determination tests, it has failed to nail errant doctors and sonography centres for violations of the PCPNDT (Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique) Act.
According to the records of Directorate, Public Health, out of 294 cases registered till November under the Act, 56 cases have been cleared till now. Out of those, only 21 cases have convicted the guilty — only 37% conviction rate.
Among the 21 cases, doctors were punished in only five cases. Fines were imposed in the rest of the cases. The state government lost even those cases where the centres were not registered.
It is not a good sign in a state where the sex ratio is alarmingly low (883/100 in 2011 census) and where the government is making all efforts to discourage sex determination tests and female foeticide.
Experts blame district appropriate authorities who register the cases and seal the machines. “Officers who register the case don’t know about the technicality involved and thus miss vital proofs and the state loses the case,” said Nirmala Samant Prabhavalkar, who is the part of state supervisory board on PCPNDT Act.
“The officers have a soft corner for doctors as they think that sex determination test and abortion is not their fault. I think more awareness is needed on this issue,” she said.
Satara-based social activist and advocate Varsha Deshpande, who has conducted several sting operations of sonography centres, said: “Due to poor case presentations, in most cases the doctors get bail and they get back their seized sonography machines too. They start their business again while the cases are going on in courts.”
A radiologist said, “Low conviction rate also gives a wrong signal in society that the government is unnecessarily framing doctors.”
However, director of health services, Dr Suresh Gupta said: “We are working hard on that. Till now there was little awareness about the PCPNDT Act among district appropriate authorities, judiciary and prosecutors. We have started sensitising them. Conviction rate will also increase as awareness increases.”
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