Raids on Ggm’s illegal abortion centres not much of a deterrent
DESPITE SEVERAL FIRS AGAINST OFFENDERS, , SUCH CENTRES ARE MUSHROOMING IN THE DISTRICT, SAY OFFICIALS
GURUGRAM: On November 29, the district health department raided a private clinic in Gurugram’s Sector 45, nabbed and booked three accused — a doctor couple and their staff — and seized several abortion kits. An FIR was registered against the three under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 at the Sector 40 police station. However, two days later, the accused were granted bail, despite being booked under nonbailable sections of the MTP Act, ASI Suresh Kumar, the investigating officer, said.
This was not the first time the accused had been nabbed for running an abortion clinic without a license. According to Dr Amandeep Chauhan, district drug control officer and a member of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques committee, the accused were repeat offenders and had been caught for sex determination earlier as well. “An FIR had been lodged against the accused in September 2016 under the PreConception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition Of Sex Selection) Act (PCPNDT Act), but they were granted bail then as well,” he said.
Gurugram’s sex ratio has been skewed in favour of males. Its sex ratio in 2014 was 843.34, which gradually rose to 904 in 2017. For the first time, the district’s sex ratio crossed the 950 mark and was 957 in May this year. However, the July to September quarter saw a sex ratio of 859.
The health department’s PCPNDT committee, comprising only three members, has raided 30 sex determination centres and abortion clinics running illegally in the district in the past three and a half years. More than 70 FIRs have been registered in the district against the offenders, including doctors, quacks, lab technicians and paramedical staff, according to data available with the police. However, health department officials said the raids are not much of a deterrent in a district that has a history of a skewed sex ratio in favour of males. Despite the number of raids and FIRs against offenders, there has been only one conviction till date, and according to officials, such centres are mushrooming in the district.