Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 – ss.20(1), 23, 4(3), 5, 6 and 29 – Authority conducted search and seized equipment belonging to the appellant and issued notice to him u/s.20(1), calling upon him to offer an explanation – Pursuant thereto, the appellant appeared before the Advisory Committee, and it was concluded that prima facie material existed in so far as the violations under PCPNDT were concerned – Suspension of the sonography center and seizure of the sonography machine was ordered – Same was challenged and was released in favour of the appellant – Proceedings before the trial court, initiated and trial court directed the issuance of process u/s.204 CrPC for the offences punishable u/s.23 of PCPNDT for violation of ss.4(3), 5, 6 and 29 of the Act and Rules 9, 8(5) and 18(9) – Criminal revision thereagainst on the ground that competence of the Civil Surgeon, as the appropriate Authority and, the maintenance and updating of records being the responsibility of the hospital staff and not the responsibility of the appellant – Revision dismissed – Thereafter, the High Court rejected the challenge to the order taking cognizance passed by the Judicial Magistrate – Correctness:
Held: District Civil Surgeon is the appropriate Authority under the Act, and as such, the instant proceedings were in accordance with law – Keeping of records is essential to the Act and its avowed purpose – Errors in maintaining the records were not a trivial matter and compromises in maintaining the record apart from being a substantive offence under the proviso to s.4(3), would also be offensive to the scope of the Act – Extent and manner of violations in maintaining the record is a question of trial and had to be determined in such proceedings – Order of the Magistrate suffered from no error – Furthermore, in general terms, the declining sex ratio issue is better and has shown considerable improvement but, however, diluting the provisions of law, or letting infractions thereof slide cannot be countenanced – According to official Government of India data, the country’s sex ratio has shown clear signs of improvement in recent years – These schemes are indicative of continued efforts to eradicate the systemic bias suffered by the girl child in an inherently patriarchal system – Much progress has been made, and yet, much is left to be desired – While the situation is markedly better than it was in the mid-1990s, the data does not support complacency – Statistics show that the progress made is incomplete and uneven – Thus, the integrity and strict enforcement of welfare-oriented legislation such as the PCPNDT Act remain essential along with efforts continued and earnest, till the time there is a widespread change in mentality and what till now, is perceived as the ‘inherent weakness’ of the woman, is replaced by true equality, when there will dawn a realization that efforts such as these are no longer required. [Paras 7, 14, 16]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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