Challenges in implementing the ban on sex selection
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It is more than 11 years since the enactment of the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act 1994. It is also at least two years since the more comprehensive, amended Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, 2003. Yet enforcing the law has proved to be a major challenge.
“Our main anxiety is that existing strategies are not working,” says Dr Puneet Bedi, Delhi-based gynaecologist, who has been part of the anti-sex selection campaign for decades. Today there are some 350 cases filed under the Act. Of these, 226 are for running a diagnostic clinic without registration, and 26 are for not maintaining accounts. Just 37 are for communicating the sex of the foetus, and 27 for advertising sex selection. The first conviction with a prison term was ordered on March 28, 2006, when a doctor and his assistant were sentenced to two years in prison and a Rs 5,000-fine in Palwal, Haryana. Until this recent conviction, only one case had resulted in successful prosecution, but even that person received an insignificant punishment. Ask government officials responsible for the programme why this happens and you’ll hear the same stories: the authorities are under-staffed and over-worked and they have no money to pursue legal action. And the powerful doctors’ lobby renders their actions null and void. Clinics that have been sealed for breaking the law have been re-opened for practice within a few days. Lawbreakers have got away after paying fines of just Rs 1,000. At recent regional and national consultations and in informal discussions, government and non-government representatives and activist groups have talked about the difficulties faced in enforcing the PNDT Act. Activists such as Sabu George, who has been doggedly pursuing the issue for years, note that it is easy to find out who is conducting sex selection in any given district. Then why are these doctors getting away scot-free? As always in any such effort, much of the battle consists of ensuring that the necessary trained personnel are in place, they have the resources, and – most important -- they do what they are supposed to do to implement the law. And clearly, this is not being done. SOURCE: Infochange India |
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