'The doctors are just greedy'

Q&A/ Baljit Singh Dahiya

On July 21, 2001, Dr S N Indora of Ballabgarh, Faridabad, Haryana, was the first doctor in the country to be booked under the anti-female foeticide law, the Pre-natal sex determination Act.

On March 3, 2008, Indora was convicted by the court of the chief judicial magistrate. Baljit Singh Dahiya, who, in his capacity as the district health officer, had booked Indora and 24 other doctors in Haryana, is today a campaigner against female foeticide. He speaks to Aasha Khosa.

You had booked Dr Indora and others when you were posted as a district level health officer. How do you feel today when he has finally got convicted?

We had cracked this case by just doing a follow up of a news item about his clinic. I went to the clinic and checked his registers and we found ample evidence of his clinic indulging in sex determination tests to enable couples get rid of female foetuses.

The conviction took so long. Does it frustrate people like you?

It is a pathetic story. I came under tremendous political pressure in this particular case. Every attempt was made to delay the prosecution.

Many a time the government counsel would just not appear. I was grilled by the court for three hours and made repeated appearances as a key witness.

But I am still happy. Also, since the first case of conviction in 2006 under the PNDT, five doctors in Haryana have been convicted by the lower courts.

What happened to the first conviction case. Was the punishment a deterrent?

Unfortunately the first doctor hailing from Palwal, who was convicted in 2006, got away with a fine of Rs 10,000 and a day's imprisonment.

What ails the system and the society? Are doctors really under pressure?

No, the doctors are just greedy and have low ethical standards. But at the same time, bureaucrats too, are hand in glove with them.

They do not take initiatives into booking the doctors who are into this inhuman and unethical business. The problem in India is that officials can get away with not doing their work while those who do are harassed.

Have things improved a little bit as claimed by the Haryana government?

Things are worse. The ultra sound clinics have devised ways to evade the law and facilitate sex-determination of the fetus. Some of these clinics have PROs who communicate the sex of the foetus to the couples.

Now there is a sophisticated technology like the blood testing kits to check the sex of the foetus. These are freely available in Punjab and Haryana. The three and four dimension imaging of the foetus is being used by some clinics.

Here the doctors need not leave an evidence of testing the sex of the foetus but they show the life in the womb to parents. The PNDT is silent on this and I think it needs to be amended.