Haryana moots police cell in each district to curb illegal sex determination
To check violations of pre-natal diagnostic techniques (PNDT), the Haryana health department will write to the state police to set up a dedicated police cell in every district headed by a DSP-rank officer, officials said.
The health department, which seeks to strengthen the enforcement of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, will write to the DGP for setting up these cells with dedicated teams to facilitate raids and filing of FIRs in case violations are found.
The decision was taken on Tuesday at a meeting of the State Task Force (STF) set up to take action against people involved in female foeticide.
Officials said the health department currently relies on the district police for support when raids are to be conducted, and having a dedicated team for this purpose will be of help.
Taking an ultrasound test has been made mandatory at 12 weeks for any medical termination of pregnancy cases while verification of medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) cases will be conducted randomly, the officials said.
The health department has given directions that all non-registered IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) centres should be closed, and those with skewed sex ratio should be checked thoroughly and shut down if any malpractice was found.
To identify the consistently low-performing areas, data on village-level sex ratio over the past five years will be compiled.
Notably, the health department recently issued show-cause notices to senior medical officers of 12 community health centres from areas reporting low sex ratio.
The move was part of the government’s efforts to crack down on female foeticide in the state, officials said.
The director of National Health Mission in Haryana, Virender Yadav, who’s also the convenor of the STF, said recently, “We have been strictly implementing the PCPNDT Act in the state. As a result, registrations of 300 erring MTP centres have been cancelled or voluntarily withdrawn.”
The other members of the STF include the mission director of National Health Mission; director generals of health services, women and child development, AYUSH and PCPNDT; health and police departments; and the state drug controller.
The STF conducts reviews and makes field visits every Tuesday.
Last week, Yadav said that the PNDT nodal officer in Hisar district was suspended and show-cause notices were issued to senior medical officers (SMOs) in-charge of 12 community health centres in Rewari, Bhiwani, Jind, Karnal, Nuh, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Mahendergarh, Hisar, Fatehabad, Karnal and Kurukshetra over low sex ratio.
The SMOs will be charge-sheeted if their replies are found unsatisfactory, Yadav said.
The PNDT nodal officers of five districts with the lowest sex ratio in the state — Charkhi Dadri, Rewari, Rohtak, Gurugram and Faridabad — were replaced with immediate effect.
The crackdown comes as Haryana recorded a dip in sex ratio at birth. In 2024, the ratio was 910 female births per 1,000 male births, against 916 female births in 2023.
Haryana Tribune