The State PCPNDT (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) Supervisory Board, which met for the first time under Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday, decided to write to the Home Department to depute an officer of the cadre of Deputy SP or Assistant Commissioner of Police to the State PCPNDT Task Force set up to curb female foeticide. This will be on the lines of a similar system being followed in Tamil Nadu.
In December, the Bengaluru police unearthed a prenatal sex determination racket across Bengaluru, Mandya, and Mysuru districts. They arrested a doctor and his lab technician who allegedly performed around 900 illegal abortions in the last three years.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, the Minister said four women legislators — Roopkala, Nayana Motamma, Latha Mallikarjun, and Umashree — are part of the Supervisory Board. The former three who attended the meeting on Thursday have made suggestions to intensify further measures to curb female foeticide.
He said discussions on enhancing the penal clauses under the PCPNDT Act — from three years imprisonment and ₹10,000 fine to five years and ₹5 lakh — were also held. “As PCPNDT is a Central Act, we will send a proposal to the centre on enhancing the penalty and jail term. We will propose that the offence should be made non-bailable. A final proposal will be chalked in the next meeting,” he said.
Besides, an external agency will be entrusted to track all pregnancies in the State to check if there are any illegal terminations of pregnancies. “The abortions that give rise to some doubt and deserve a second look will be shortlisted for a better audit,” he said.
Task Force
The State government had, in the first week of January, constituted a Task Force for PCPNDT Act implementation under the chairmanship of the Health and Family Welfare Commissioner.
This followed the Health Minister’s announcement on December 12 in the Legislative Council during the Belagavi session that the government will set up task forces at the State and district levels within a week to curb female foeticide. However, it had been delayed following surge in COVID-19 cases and shift of focus.
