Ghaziabad: In a significant breakthrough, police teams from Ghaziabad and Sonipat exposed a pre-natal sex determination racket operating within the premises of Shiva Ultrasound, a registered centre in Ghaziabad.
The accused had allegedly been facilitating couples from Haryana and neighbouring states for illicit sex determination tests, charging a hefty fee of Rs 30,000.
Acting on a tip-off regarding the involvement of a tout, the authorities employed an 11-week pregnant woman from Sonipat as a decoy to apprehend the middleman. The middleman allegedly trapped couples from Haryana and other adjacent states to bring them to the Shiva Ultrasound for an illegal ultrasound.
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Police arrested the accused middleman with two other accomplices on Wednesday. The trio now faces charges under various sections, including Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 420 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and relevant provisions of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, 1994, along with the National Medical Commission Act.
CMO Dr Charan Singh, a nodal officer of Pre-Conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques told the Times of India, "We were notified by a Sonipat health department team about an ultrasound centre carrying gender tests in Loni. Our records showed that the ultrasound centre was registered in the name of one Anita Mishra, who submitted a medical certificate of KK Phukan, a sonologist. When we tried to reach Phukan on the phone number mentioned on the documents, we were not able to connect with him."
According to the plan on Wednesday, a team of Sonipat cops, including three doctors and supporting staff travelled to Baghpat with the fake patient. “The woman met Singh and handed him Rs 30,000. He took her in a car to Tila Pipeline Road in Loni. Here, he introduced the woman to another tout, Sanjay Singh. The two men then took the woman to Shiva Ultrasound Centre where Anita’s husband Dheeraj took her for the gender test,” the CMO said.
According to The Daily, Dr Singh, highlighting the prevalence of such centres, noted that Ghaziabad alone has 369 registered ultrasound centres, with 35 situated in Loni. DCP (Rural) Vivek Yadav emphasized the seriousness of the charges and the legal actions taken against the accused. Health officials revealed that numerous such illegal operations were conducted from residences in congested areas of Ghaziabad, Noida, Hapur, and Saharanpur.
The culprits often employ unauthorized portable ultrasound machines due to their cost-effectiveness, simplicity, and accessibility. These illegal practices target expecting mothers, charging them substantial amounts ranging from Rs 20,000 to 50,000 under the guise of gender determination tests.
Given the proximity of Loni to Haryana, a state grappling with a skewed sex ratio, officials suspect that numerous women from Haryana are sent to these illicit centres for sex determination tests. According to government data, Haryana reported 917 female births per 1,000 males in 2022, further emphasizing the need to crack down on such illegal activities.
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