Equating pre-natal sex determination with female foeticide and maintaining that the tendency not to have girl child offends a woman’s dignity, the Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld an amendment to Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act banning sex-selection treatment.

A couple from Andheri, Vijay Sharma and his wife Kirti, with two children, both girls, had petitioned the court stating they wanted to have another child, a boy, provided they were in a position to select the sex of the child.

Dismissing their petition, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Ranjana Desai in their verdict said: “The whole idea behind sex selection before pre-conception is to go against the nature and secure conception of a child of one's choice. It can prevent birth of a female child. It is as bad as foeticide.”

Expressing concern over the “severe imbalance” in the sex ratio, the court observed: “That society should give preference to a male child over a girl child is a matter of grave concern. Such tendency offends woman’s dignity.”

Holding that sex selection is against the “spirit of the Constitution,” the court said the practice “humiliates and insults womanhood”.

The Sharmas had challenged Prenatal Diagnostic Tests (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act of 2002, an amendment to the 1994 Act, saying it was a Constitutional right of parents to select sex of their child before the conception.