Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Dr Sumita Misra informed that a joint team of PC&PNDT officials from Jhajjar and Charkhi Dadri busted an interstate sex determination racket operating out of Gaya district in Bihar, leading to the arrest of four persons, including two Haryana-based agents, an illegal ultrasound centre operator and a man posing as a sonologist.
Cases have been registered against all four accused under provisions of the PC&PNDT Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, the ACS Health said. Dr. Misra informed that the District Appropriate Authorities of Jhajjar and Charkhi Dadri received specific information last week that Surender and Rakesh Yadav, both residents of Chhuchhakwas village in Jhajjar district, were taking pregnant women from Jhajjar, Dadri and adjoining areas to Bihar for illegal fetal sex determination in exchange for money.
Acting on the input, the District Appropriate Authority, Jhajjar, constituted a special team comprising Dr Sandeep Kumar, Nodal Officer (PC-PNDT), Dr Basant Kumar Dubey and Vinod Kumar from Jhajjar, along with Dr Udaybha and Dr Sandeep from Charkhi Dadri. As part of a decoy operation, a pregnant woman was deployed as a decoy customer, accompanied by a man posing as her husband.
The accused allegedly agreed to conduct the illegal sex determination test for ₹50,000 and called the decoy customer to Chhuchhakwas on the night of June 19. The woman was then taken to Tikari town in Bihar's Gaya district, with the joint PNDT teams following the vehicle from a safe distance.
Giving more information, Health officials further informed that on reaching Tikari, the accused took the woman to Shiv Shakti Ultrasound Centre, which was allegedly being run illegally. There, centre operator Ramashray Prasad and Gulshan Kumar, who allegedly posed as a sonologist, conducted an ultrasound examination and disclosed that the fetus was male.
On receiving confirmation from the decoy's companion, the joint PNDT teams, assisted by officials of the Gaya district PNDT unit authorised by the District Magistrate of Gaya, raided the centre. During the raid, the teams apprehended Ramashray Prasad, Gulshan Kumar, Surender and Rakesh Yadav, and recovered an illegal ultrasound machine from the premises.
All four accused were subsequently handed over to Tikari Police Station in Gaya district for further legal action, with a case registered under relevant provisions of the PC&PNDT Act, BNS and the NMC Act. The spokesperson appealed to citizens to report any information regarding illegal sex determination activities to the Civil Surgeon's office or district PNDT authorities, and reiterated that both conducting and undergoing prenatal sex determination are punishable offences carrying imprisonment of three to five years.
The spokesperson added that informants providing credible information leading to action against such offenders would be eligible for a cash reward of ₹1 lakh, with their identity kept strictly confidential.