Fearing another girl child, couple aborts male foetus

AMRITSAR: The rampant practice of female foeticide has cost a couple from a border Punjab district dearly. The foetus they illegally aborted has turned out to be a male.

The mother of the unborn child, Lakhbir Kaur, has now registered a case against her husband Gurcharan Singh and in-laws for her illegal abortion at Punjab's Patti town in Tarn Taran district.

"The couple was misled by a local nurse and they opted for abortion to avoid a second girl child," a police officer said.

He said after the illegal abortion, the couple came to know that the foetus was of a male child. However, the police have made no arrest yet.

Punjab has one of the lowest sex ratios in the country with about 800 females per 1,000 males.

Determination of sex of an unborn child is banned under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act across the country.