Action will be taken against 11 men who took their wives under PC and PNDT Act
Action will be taken against 11 men who took their wives under PC and PNDT Act
A day after 13 people were arrested for their involvement in sex determination In Odisha’s Ganjam district, the Berhampur police hit back at the husbands who took their wives to illegal centers in the desire of sons, in the case of fetus.
“We have identified 11 men at the illegal sex selection center who were their wives. Action will be taken against them under the Pre-Conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994. Hindu on Saturday, May 28, 2022.
“We deliberately let the husbands go from the spot as their arrest could have caused a ruckus. We did not want to put pregnant women in any kind of mental trauma. However, the husbands have already been identified and made a part of the investigation,” Mr. Vivek said.
‘complicated matter’
The police also came to know that the husbands of some pregnant women performed abortions after knowing that the sex of the fetus was female. Police will chase these people too.
“It is a complex matter. We want to take the matter seriously and make it foolproof. The people who provide the service of gender selection are not the culprits. Husbands and family members of pregnant women are equally responsible,” They said.
For the first time in Odisha, in the enforcement of the PCPNDT Act, the police have caught so many people red-handed including the center operators, husbands, middlemen and quacks.
Police have arrested Reena Pradhan (40), a recognized Social Health Activist (ASHA) worker of village Bhikapara under Khalikote police station, for taking a pregnant woman for sex selection. ASHA workers are primarily health workers at the grassroots level and are responsible for raising awareness about the social and legal issues of gender selection. However, the accused ASHA worker did the opposite of what was expected of him. Berhampur Police suspects ASHA workers to be involved in sex selection racket.
It is learned that the main accused in the case, Durga Prasad Nayak, has been running an illegal sex selection center for more than 2-3 years. The possibility of a large number of people being involved in the sex-selective elimination of the fetus cannot be ruled out.
After raiding the house-cum-clinic run by Nayak, the Berhampur Police also came to know that the cost of that machine was Rs. Six lakh was procured from Hyderabad for sex determination. Berhampur SP said, “During investigation, if the situation demands, a police team will go to Hyderabad and find out how the network works.”
Six diagnostic or pathology centers in Berhampur were in constant touch with illegal sex selection centers. Some employees of diagnostic centers are believed to have been motivating pregnant women to go to illegal sex selection centres.
Determination of sex is illegal under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994. The Odisha Government acknowledged that the State Appropriate Authorities designated to implement the PC and PNDT Act often do not have sufficient technical capacity to implement them effectively. act.
The Child Sex Ratio (CSR) of Odisha is continuously deteriorating. In the 1961 census, the CSR of Odisha was 1,035 which decreased to 1,020 in 1971. A major decline in CSR was observed in 1981 when this ratio rose to 995. It went up to 967 in 1991, 953 in 2001 and 941 in 2011.
While in 1991 there were only five districts whose CSR was below 950, in 2001 Census 12 districts had CSR below 950. As of 2011 census data, 16 districts were below 950. All these districts are located in the coastal and central region of the state of Odisha.
shocking National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) reported a further decline in CSR. In 2019-21, Odisha has 894 female children per 1000 males as compared to 932 CSR in 2015-16. CSR fell by 36 points in four years.
Activists alleged that the PC and PNDT Act was not strictly enforced in Odisha for which couples had no fear of visiting illegal sex selection centres. (eom)