“The Palwal court verdict is just the first step in saving the girl child. We have a long way to go.”

Recalling the first raid at a clinic in Ballabgarh—the case is still at the trial stage—Dahiya said it took nine months of preparation. “We had just tape recorders and video cameras with us. We kept the police outside the clinic but they were not involved.” The doctor he apprehended flaunted his connections with an MP. “There was tremendous pressure on me to withdraw the case but I did not oblige them.”

He recalled how they were once gheraoed while conducting a raid in Palwal. “I tactically withdrew, only to raid him again latter.” On another occasion, he sent a young doctor as a rickshaw-puller with a decoy customer to a clinic.

On the personal front, it has not been easy. “It was a painstaking job. I have had no time for my family ever since I took up this campaign. I used to prepare case files myself. In Dr Sabsani’s case, I prepared a nine-page report with the annexures running into some 200 pages.” “The PNDT Act is a powerful tool in the hands of bureaucrats. They must stop blaming society for foeticide and start cleaning the dirt in these clinics,” he said.