In a high-powered panel discussion on PNDT Act held here on Sunday evening and attended by deputy commissioner Vikas Garg, SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill and Civil Surgeon Dr SP Sharma among various prominent doctors of the city, the speakers maintained the scourge was rampant because of the absence of complainant.

“It is a crime in which we find there are hardly any complainants. The woman who goes for sex determination test of the fetus and the in-laws are hand-in-glove with the doctor who performs the test. There is hardly any instance when the woman would complain but otherwise nobody comes forward as complainant,” said SSP Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill.

Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg said it was a shame for the state where the practice was rampant. “As compared to the Southern state where the doctors refuse to do sex determination tests without any serious reason, it is prevalent in almost all the districts of the state. And if one makes enquiries, one gets to know where the sex determination tests could be conducted. It is a problem in order to eradicate which everyone in the society will have to vow.”

The Civil Surgeon, Dr SP Sharma talked about various points relating to the PNDT Act. Answering the queries of the doctors on making the photo identity proof of a woman to be undergone ultrasound scan necessary, Dr Sharma said that it was compulsory in the second semester of the pregnancy.

Some doctors also questioned why the woman and her in-laws were not made party to the crime. The SSP, Dr Gill answered the Act was aimed at preventing the doctors from carrying out sex determination tests to facilitate abortion of the female fetus which is a common practice in the state. “It is the doctor who has the expertise and the machines to do the tests. So the Act is there to prevent him from doing such malpractice,” he said.

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