3 Men arrested for doing illegal fetus tests

Jaipur, March 19: Three were arrested for conducting the illegal fetus sex determination tests on Saturday.

While coming to details, In an inter-State decoy operation, the Rajasthan government's Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Cell has arrested a doctor and two of his brokers in the Ferozepur district of Punjab on charges of carrying out illegal fetus sex determination tests.

The police team accompanying the cell's officers seized the sonography machine used for the tests and Rs.33,000 in cash paid to the doctor, Sandeep Singh, as his fees. This was the 12th inter-State decoy operation carried out by the cell.

A pregnant woman, acting as a decoy, was taken by the agents from Raisinghnagar in Sriganganagar district to Ferozepur for the test. In its raid conducted on Dr. Singh's clinic, the PCPNDT Cell's team found that no record was maintained there despite its registration, apparently in a bid to conceal illegal activities.

The National Health Mission's State Director Naveen Jain, who is the State Appropriate Authority under the PCPNDT Act, said here on Saturday that the agents were regularly taking pregnant women for the test to neighboring States because of the strict surveillance of medical service clinics in Rajasthan.

Mr.Jain said the accused persons, who used to charge extra fees for an abortion of female fetuses, had been brought to Raisinghnagar, where they will be produced in the court with the request for their police remand.