Sex determination networks continue to operate despite decades of prohibition
Underground networks offering sex determination tests and unsafe abortions continue to endanger women’s lives and skew the sex ratio. Recent cases reveal both the scale of the problem and the deep gaps in enforcement.
In May this year, 27-year-old B Anusha died in Suryapet, Telangana, following a botched abortion performed by unlicensed practitioners. The procedure followed an illegal sex determination test. The hospital owners, a registered medical practitioner, and a lab technician were arrested, and the clinic was shut down.
Sadly, many cases of illegal sex determination surface only after surgeries go wrong, women’s lives are lost, or families seek help due to complications. The networks of illegal sex determination and unsafe abortions often operate quietly, hidden in plain sight.
Just weeks ago, Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) officials in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, busted an illegal ultrasound racket being run from a private home. Acting on a decoy pregnant patient, authorities arrested the operator and confiscated a portable ultrasound machine.
In April, an India Today sting exposed sex-selection rackets operating across Punjab and Haryana. The investigation led to FIRs against three people, the suspension of PCPNDT nodal officers, and the cancellation of multiple Medical Termination of Pregnancy and ultrasound licences.
Back in late 2023, a decade-long racket came to light in Karnataka, revealing that two doctors and associates were orchestrating female foeticide in Bengaluru, Mandya, and Mysuru—reportedly terminating 20–25 female foetuses each month and charging Rs 20,000–25,000 per case.
In 2024, a primary healthcare centre doctor and nurse in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri were arrested following a sting by health officials for facilitating illicit sex determination through local touts.
The PC-PNDT Act 1994, amended in 2003, bans prenatal sex determination. Yet, according to the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) Crime in India 2022 report, only 56 cases were filed under the Act—a strikingly low number given the pervasiveness of the issue and the reality on the ground with cases like Anusha’s.
Meanwhile, the NCRB data on crimes against women show staggering levels of gender violence: in 2022, there were 445,256 cases, with a crime rate of 66.4 per lakh population.
Sex ratio at birth remains skewed—NFHS-5 (2019–21) shows only 929 girls per 1,000 boys.
Pioneering a new enforcement tool, Haryana has begun using mobile call records and location tracking to dismantle foeticide networks. Over 120 FIRs have already been filed this year, with dozens more under investigation.
Health departments are also pushing awareness. In Madurai, officials held a training workshop on the PC-PNDT Act, distributing legal handbooks to gynaecology and radiology staff. Similarly, in Coimbatore, district authorities stressed the need for full compliance.
Even three decades after legislation banning the practice came into force, female foeticide persists through lethal, clandestine networks. Ending this violence requires more than legislation—it demands systemic surveillance, stringent prosecution, and preventive public health networks.
A few questions worth asking are: can communities be educated and empowered to reject the normalisation of son preference? Can health workers be watchdogs, and can enforcement include routine raids, mobile-traced investigations, special courts, and unbroken continuity in prosecution?
Sex determination is not just a violation of the law—it drives unsafe medical practices, contributes to female foeticide, and worsens gender disparities. Unless curbed, the costs will extend far beyond individual tragedies to society at large.
Edited by Kanishk Singh