Bombay HC quashes couple’s plea for sex determination

Dismissing their petition, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Ranjana Desai in their verdict said: “The whole idea behind sex selection before pre-conception is to go against the nature and secure conception of a child of one’s choice. It can prevent birth of a female child. It is as bad as foeticide.”

Expressing concern over the “severe imbalance” in the sex ratio, the court observed: “That society should give preference to a male child over a girl child is a matter of grave concern. Such tendency offends woman’s dignity.”

Holding that sex selection is against the “spirit of the Constitution,” the court said the practice “humiliates and insults womanhood”.

The Sharmas had challenged Prenatal Diagnostic Tests (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act of 2002, an amendment to the 1994 Act, saying it was a Constitutional right of parents to select sex of their child before the conception.