Doctor, broker arrested in Haryana-UP crackdown on illegal sex determination racket
PCPNDT Act
Meerut: An illegal prenatal sex-determination racket operating across the Haryana-Uttar Pradesh border was busted in a joint operation by the Gurgaon and Meerut health departments, leading to the arrest of a doctor and a broker from a diagnostic centre in Sardhana, officials said.
The raid was conducted on Thursday at a diagnostic centre on Tehsil Road by Gurgaon’s Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) nodal cell under the supervision of Dr. Devender Singh Solanki. The raid marks another significant interstate enforcement action against networks facilitating illegal prenatal sex determination and female foeticide.
Medical Dialogues had previously reported that a joint operation by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh police has exposed an alleged illegal sex-determination racket operating across districts between Sonipat and Amroha, leading to a case being registered against 13 people, including a doctor from Haryana.
According to officials, the operation was launched after Gurgaon Civil Surgeon Dr. Lokveer Singh received intelligence that a broker was transporting pregnant women from Haryana to Meerut for illegal sex-determination tests. Authorities alleged that the broker charged between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 for each test and also arranged illegal abortions if the foetus was found to be female.
Acting on the information, the District Appropriate Authority authorised a decoy operation. A pregnant woman from Faridabad volunteered to pose as a patient, while the Gurgaon team coordinated with the Meerut health department to execute the raid.
According to the news reports, the decoy met the broker at the diagnostic centre and agreed to pay Rs 15,000 for the test. After accepting the marked currency, the broker allegedly skipped all mandatory legal documentation and escorted the woman to an ultrasound room. There, a doctor allegedly used an unregistered ultrasound machine to conduct the scan and disclosed that the fetus was male.
Following a pre-arranged signal from the decoy, the joint team raided the facility. Officials recovered Rs 14,500 of the marked currency concealed beneath a sheet on the examination table. During questioning, the broker allegedly confessed to paying Rs 500 to a doctor at RN Hospital to procure a fake referral slip.
Verification revealed that the accused doctor who conducted the scan possessed only an MBBS degree and lacked the qualifications to perform diagnostic ultrasounds. Further, the centre’s management had formally notified the Meerut Chief Medical Officer (CMO) on June 5 that the facility was completely shut down. Neither the doctor nor the ultrasound machine was registered under the PCPNDT Act, 1994, officials said. The PCPNDT Act was designed to prohibit prenatal sex determination and prevent female foeticide, reports The Indian Express.
The operation, however, faced resistance during the handover of the accused to the police. According to officials, a man, accompanied by a group of supporters, allegedly obstructed government officials from discharging their duties and facilitated the escape of the diagnostic centre's owner. Both the owner and the man who allegedly aided his escape remain absconding.
Despite the disruption, the authorities successfully detained the broker and the accused doctor, who were subsequently arrested by the Sardhana Police.
Subsequently, an FIR was registered on Thursday evening at the Sardhana police station invoking criminal conspiracy, voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from discharging their duties, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, cheating by personation, officers said. The accused face charges under various sections of the PCPNDT Act and Section 34(2) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, which penalises unauthorised medical practice, reports Indian Express.
Additionally, the registered medical practitioner of the centre and another associate have been named as accused in the case.
The latest raid is part of a series of interstate crackdowns led by the Gurgaon health department targeting illegal sex-determination networks that transport pregnant women from Haryana to clinics in Uttar Pradesh to evade stricter enforcement under the PCPNDT Act.
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