Despite specific legislation, the menace of gender-based destruction of foetus continues to plague society, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asserted. The Bench has made it clear that the sex of foetus in a civilised society cannot be the determining factor for lease of life to see the world. The assertion came in a case where the accused allegedly “dramatised” the conduct of ultrasound on a decoy customer and showed pre-recorded video in the name of sex determination. He allegedly played the video on an LCD screen to show that ultrasound was being carried out. The matter was placed before the court after accused Hassan Mohd sought anticipatory bail in an FIR registered on September 29 for cheating, criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty and other offences. The bench asserted that determining the gender of foetus was a malaise affecting society and the desire to have a male child was an open secret and affected gender ratio in society.

Considering society’s disdainful attitude to female child and use of diagnostic equipment for female foeticide, the Act was enacted to curb prenatal sex determination, but the menace continued and it was a classic case of misusing the gift of technology development,
The court opined that “The Constitution guarantees equality to genders, but prenatal sex determination deprives a female foetus to come to this world. The termination of female foetus is destruction of woman of future. There cannot be a dispute on the fact that woman has a multi-faceted role in society, the court asserted.

Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994

• Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to stop female foeticides and arrest the declining sex ratio in India.
• The act banned prenatal sex determination.
• Every genetic counselling centre, genetic laboratory or genetic clinic engaged in counselling or conducting pre-natal diagnostics techniques, like in vitro fertilisation (IVF) with the potential of sex selection (Preimplantation genetic diagnosis) before and after conception comes under preview of the PCPNDT Act and are banned.

This process began in the early 1990 when ultrasound techniques gained widespread use in India. There was a tendency for families to continuously produce children until a male child was born. Foetal sex determination and sex selective abortion by medical professionals has today grown into a Rs. 1,000 crore industry .
Social discrimination against women and a preference for sons have promoted female foeticide in various forms skewing the sex ratio of the country towards men.
 According to the decennial Indian census, the sex ratio in the 0–6 age group in India went from 104.0 males per 100 females in 1981, to 105.8 in 1991, to 107.8 in 2001, to 109.4 in 2011. The ratio is significantly higher in certain states such as Punjab and Haryana (126.1 and 122.0, as of 2001.

Objectives

• The main purpose of enacting the act is to ban the use of sex selection techniques after conception and prevent the misuse of prenatal diagnostic technique for sex selective abortions.