Altogether 425 court cases registered in last three years under PCPNDT Act

New Delhi: In the last three years, a total number of 425 court cases have been registered under the Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT), the Union Minister of State for Health Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar informed the Rajya Sabha.

Further, the Minister informed that altogether 3521 ultrasound machines have been sealed and seized until now for the offences committed under PCPNDT Act in the country.

The Minister was responding a series of questions raised by Shri Sanjay Raut. He asked the Minister about the number of court cases that were registered in the last three years under the PCPNDT Act, whether authorities have filed appeals against the acquittals (given the low acquittal rate), the number of ultrasound machines sealed and seized so far for offences committed under PCPNDT Act in the country. Apart from this, he also inquired if any of the machines had been released during trials.

Replying to these questions, the MoS Health informed the Parliament that a total number of 425 court cases have been registered in the last three years under the PCPNDT Act.

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Providing the data regarding the number of acquittals, the Minister replied, "total 90 appeals have been filed against the acquittals by the Authorities."

The Minister also informed the Rajya Sabha that a total number of 3521 ultrasound machines have been sealed and seized so far for offences committed under PCPNDT Act in the country. However, the Minister also informed that a total number of 125 ultrasound machines have been released during trials in the country.

Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 had been enacted by the Indian Parliament in order to put a stop to female foeticides and to bring back balance in the declining sex ratio in India.

According to the Act, prenatal sex determination is banned in the country and all the genetic counselling centres, genetic laboratory, genetic clinic engaged in counselling or conducting pre-natal diagnostics techniques including in vitro fertilisation (IVF) with potential of sex selection before and after conception comes under PCPNDT Act and they are banned as well.

Click here to view the statistics provided by MoS Health

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