Illegal sex-test clinic unearthed in Ludhiana
LUDHIANA: A joint team of the district health department and police on Monday unearthed an illegal sex-determination centre being run from a house in Haibowal Kalan.
It’s the third such clinic sealed in less than three weeks in the city. Punjab and neighbouring Haryana are notorious for their skewed sex ratio and there have been reports of female foeticide.
“The team raided the house around 11.30 am and found an unregistered portable ultrasound machine kept in a bag under the stairs. The house owner Jatinder Arora has been arrested,” said district health and family welfare officer Dr SP Singh.
Arora was booked under provisions of the PNDT Act. Police said Arora, a public relations professional, who is associated with many hospitals, used to charge Rs 12,000- Rs 15,000 to reveal the sex of the foetus.
“Such machines can only be sold to registered doctors and centres”, added Singh.
The accused was taken to the Model Town police station where a team is investigating two earlier cases of illegal sexdetermination.
Station house officer Surinder Kamal said Arora had links with the accused in previous cases.
“It looks like a big racket. Raids are being conducted to arrest two main accused Manmohan Sharma and Saroj Mohammad”, he added.
Arora said one Parminder used to refer persons for ultrasound test to him.