Concerned over skewed sex ratio,HC won’t release sonography unit

A full bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah,Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice DG Karnik held that under the description “any other material object” under Section 30 of the PCPNDT Act,the corporation has the power to seize a sonography machine if it is believed to be used for sex determination.

The court observed that ultrasound machines and other machines and equipment are capable of aiding or assisting in selection of sex of a child and is capable of performing any procedure or technique or test for pre-natal detection of sex of foetus.

The court also made a mention of the ‘disturbing figures’ of the declining sex ratio over the last five years in the country. In Maharashtra,the child sex ratio has gone down from 913 in 2001 to 883 in 2011. In Beed,it is as low as 801 and in Kolhapur it is 836,the judges noted in their order.

Earlier,the court had remarked that the sex ratio in richer parts of the state is more skewed than elsewhere.

The judges also said they were distressed by the number of cases of offences under the PCPNDT Act that were pending before various magistrates in the state for as long as six to eight years.

“We direct all cases under this Act to be taken up on top priority basis and decided preferably within a year,” the court said. It ordered all the criminal cases under the Act filed in or before 2010 to be decided by the magistrates by December 31,2011.

According to the statistics provided to the court,the national sex ratio in the age group of 0-6 years had fallen from 976 in 1961 to 914 in 2011.