2 Gujarat docs held in sex-selection sting

Dr Prakash Waghela,Gujarat’s PC-PNDT nodal officer said this was is the first joint operation involving two states and special crime branch officials from Surat were brought in to avoid any untoward incidents. Dr Prasad Bhandari who is in charge of the PC-PNDT Act implementation in Nandurbar said there were several complaints about two-three hospitals at Shahade tehsil indulging in sex selective abortions.

Deshpande,who conducted 34 stings that led to arrest of doctors in Maharashtra,said they tracked down the sex selective practice when Pawar agreed to take the pregnant woman to Surat.

According to Bhandari,the ward boy,the woman and Kailash Jadhav,an activist from Lekh Ladki Abhiyan who posed as the woman’s relative,travelled to Surat where they were taken to Priya hospital. However,hospital authorities denied they conduct sex selective abortion. Pawar then took her to Patel at Om Sai Diagnostic laboratory. He allegedly demanded Rs 14,000 and took her to Wani Hospital where Zariwala performed the ultrasound.

He refused to conduct an abortion as the woman was 23 weeks pregnant. However,by then,the doctors sensed a raid and tried to hide. The trio was arrested. Bhandari said Nandurbar district had a healthy sex ratio at birth and according to the 2011 Census,it was 932 girls per 1,000 boys. “However,in the last 18 months,there has been a decline by more than 25 points on the sex ratio calculated at birth,particularly in Nandurbar and Shahada where there are more than 30 sonography centres,” Bhandari said.

Waghela admitted that cross-border and inter-district migration and sex selective abortions were being done and called for information on such practices.