Rachakonda police probe if gender tests led to abortions

Hyderabad: The sex determination rackets busted by the Rachakonda police last year may not end with the arrests of the concerned doctors. Police are investigating if any abortions took place after the tests so that they can take legal action for.

Police suspect that the hospitals that allowed the tests to be used for sex determination may have also carried out abortions. They are in the process of collecting data of the patients to verify the current status of the pregnant women.

Seven doctors have been arrested following decoy operations between August 2018 and February 2019 by the Rachakonda She Team.

The tests were being carried out and the sex of the foetus conveyed to the families of the pregnant women in exchange for huge sums of money.

Radiologist Katta Nanda Kishore, 58, who was arrested earlier this month for conducting sex determination tests, charged Rs 7,000 and was not even authorised to conduct tests at the clinic, Prathyusha Scanning Centre, which was itself not permitted to carry out any tests.

The radiologist had carried on this illegal practice for three years and had conducted prenatal sex determination tests on hundreds of women and revealed the sex of the foetus, which is illegal under the Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act.

He may also have gone further and carried out abortions for the pregnant women if the sex of the child was not to their liking.

In three other cases, at Uppal, Choutuppal and Medipally, six doctors were arrested for conducting prenatal sex determination tests and also suspected of carrying out abortions. The numbers of abortions could be over 50, the police anticipate.

“Abortion conducted to save the life of a woman is not illegal. But, if the scanning was conducted specifically to find the gender of the baby, and following it if the woman was forced to undergo miscarriage, it is punishable according to the law. Any person, including the woman, if she willingly goes in for abortion after knowing the gender of the foetus, is punishable,” said a police official.

According to Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code, whoever voluntarily causes a woman with child to miscarry, can be punished with imprisonment of either three years or fine or both. If the woman is ready to deliver the child and is forced to abort, the accused would face imprisonment up to seven years.

The police officer quoted above said that as part of the investigation, the details of those who underwent the scan would be collected and the current status of the pregnant women will be checked to see how many of them have had a delivery and if anybody got the pregnancy aborted.

This will take time as most centres and hospitals that carry out these illegal tests do not maintain proper records.

Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said, “The scanning centres and hospitals that are indulging in illegal practices like prenatal sex determination tests which have been identified so far, were also doing abortions. It has to be ascertained following an investigation how many abortions have taken place, which is difficult as data with such centres is not available. District Medical and Health Department also has to intervene and take action against such doctors and hospitals.”