Doctor, nurse held for interstate sex determination racket

AGRA, APRIL 2017:

An interstate sex determination and illegal abortion racket active in Rajasthan and Agra was busted by the police. A lady doctor and her associate have been arrested.

In an inter-state decoy operation, officials from the Jaipur government's Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Cell (PCPNDT), led by inspector Sitaram, went to the Vidya Nursing Home located in the Itimad-ud-daula area of the city. A pregnant woman acting a decoy was taken by an agent to the nursing home for a sex determination test. The team later caught Dr Vidya Gupta and nurse Manorma from the facility.

"The accused doctor has been doing illegal activities in the nursing home for more than a decade. Prior to opening the facility, she performed sex determination tests (SDTs) in her home. For SDTs and illegal abortions, she charged Rs 60,000, sharing 50% of the money between nurse Manorma and two of her agents," said Raguveer Singh, additional superintendent of police, PCPNDT cell in Rajasthan.

Singh also informed that the matter came to light after Ram Kishore, a resident of Itimad-ud-daula and compounder at a private hospital in Rajasthan, and agent Prabhu Dayal of Dholpur district in Rajasthan were arrested. Kishore and Dayal would get in touch with people in Rajasthan who wanted to have STDs and directed them to Manorma in Agra. Dayal has been arrested.

The accused doctor and her aid were booked under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 and Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994.

Both Dr Gupta and Manorma will be presented at the Bharatpur magistrate court on Thursday. Police have seized the ultrasound equipment of the nursing home.

Rajasthan health secretary Naveen Jain said, "This is the fifth racket busted by the state PCPNDT cell in Uttar Pradesh. A total of 13 interstate SDT cases have been solved."