State seeks Centre’s opinion on applying homicide charge

Public Health Minister Suresh Shetty on Tuesday told the Assembly that the state government would soon seek permission from the Centre to apply Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code against those accused in illegal sex selection-related foeticide cases. He added that family members who forced women to undergo sex determination tests and abortions as well as doctors performing abortions would be prosecuted.

Responding to a calling attention notice on female foeticide,Shetty said applying Section 302,could prove to be a deterrent. At present,provisions of the Pre-Conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act and the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act are applicable in cases of illegal sex selection and abortion of female foetuses.

The sex ratio in Maharashtra has dipped from 934 females to every 1,000 males in 1991 to 922 in 2001 and 925 in the 2011 census,Shetty said. The decline has been the sharpest in Beed district,falling by 93 since the 2001 census,he added.

Between June 4 and June 30,5,115 sonography centres were raided and irregularities found at 246 clinics. Of the 3,042 abortion clinics raided,licences of 306 were cancelled and legal proceedings initiated,he said.

Asked why family members of women who undergo forced abortions do not face action,Shetty said action has been taken against four persons from different families so far. “We cannot book pregnant women unless it is proven that they had willingly gone for illegal sex determination and abortion,” he said.