New Delhi: Rs 50,000 reward for informers on sex determination

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HT "The draft proposal for the 'informer reward scheme' will come into effect within a few months once we get approvals from the legal and finance departments,"

The PC-PNDT Act penalizes any sex determination activity being conducted on the part of medical practitioners  within the country. The act bans medical institutions including hospitals, clinics and nursing homes from practising ultrasonography technique or any such technique to determine the gender of an unborn child following which abortions are done if it is a female child in many cases.

The act further criminalizes doctors who reveal the gender of an unborn child and is penalty of maximum five years jail and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh is laid on the culprit.

Read Also: Health Ministry proposes Amendments to PC-PNDT Act

However, despite the law and enforced penalty threat, various such institutions have been caught conducting sex determination and also engaging in female foeticide. It has been found that there are about 291 diagnostic centres registered in Delhi government's website conducting these illegal tests.

Usually the police get first information from informers, but in order to grab strong evidences such as video recording against the culprit, the government has called out for such a unique way to involve decoys.Such initiatives have earlier been taken into practice in neighbouring states of Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan and now it will be bring about in the national capital as well.