Sambhaji Bhide in trouble over his ‘mangoes for sons’ comment

An advisory committee of the Nashik Municipal Corporation has decided to file a case against Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide, accusing him of violating the anti-sex determination law with his "mangoes for sons" remark. The committee submitted a report which accuses him of violating the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act (PCPNDT Act), a civic official said on Saturday.

Bhide had last month claimed that a number of couples were blessed with sons after eating mangoes from his orchard. "Mangoes are powerful and nutritious. Some women who ate mangoes of my garden have given birth to sons," he had said, addressing a gathering in Nashik.

The ex-RSS activist's remarks drew flak from various quarters and the Additional Director of Health, Pune, had asked the NMC to look into the matter after receiving a complaint from a member of the Ahmednagar civic body's committee on the PCPNDT Act.

NMC's own advisory committee on PCPNDT Act, which works under the corporation's health department, then probed the matter and submitted a report to the Nashik commissioner on Friday, said J Z Kothari, NMC's medical superintendent.

The panel had served a notice to Bhide, seeking his explanation, but he did not appear before it, committee members said.

Bhide allegedly violated section 22 of the PCPNDT Act (prohibition of advertisement relating to pre-conception and pre-natal determination of sex and punishment for contravention), Kothari said, quoting from the report.

The advisory committee has decided to file a case against Bhide in a local court under the Act, he said.

Bhide, who heads Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, is also an accused in the January 1 Bhima-Koregaon caste violence case.