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Woman doctor nabbed for sex-determination test
Apr 14, 2006, 23:07, Reviewed by: Dr. Priya Saxena
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A bribe of Rs.2,350 allegedly paid for the test was recovered from her.
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By IANS,
A woman doctor in Haryana was caught red-handed Wednesday after she conducted a sex-determination test on a woman to ascertain the sex of her unborn child.
Vijay Bhargawa was caught immediately after she conducted the test at Rewari town and disclosed the sex of the unborn child to a decoy customer sent to her by state health officials.
A bribe of Rs.2,350 allegedly paid for the test was recovered from her.
Sex determination tests are banned in India under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act.
The ultrasound machine of the private clinic owned by Bhargawa was sealed by health officials led by Haryana's Director General of Health Services N.K. Sharma and six other senior doctors.
The team raided Bhargawa's clinic after she conducted the test.
Haryana has one of the worst sex ratios in the country, at just around 800 females for 1,000 males.
There have been several instances in the districts of Sonepat, Karnal, Panipat, Bhiwani, Sirsa and Hisar of poor women from other states like Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Assam being sold to families from Haryana so that they could marry off their eligible sons.
On March 28, the first conviction in a case related to violation of the PNDT Act violation was made by a court in Palwal town of Faridabad district.
Anil Shabani, a doctor, and his pharmacist were sentenced to two years in prison for conducting an illegal sex-determination test.
In another case at Gurgaon, a doctor has been charged with conducting a sex determination test and prosecution proceedings are on.
Sharma said strict action would be taken against anyone indulging in such illegal acts.
Over 3,200 inspections were carried out at ultrasound clinics in the past year across Haryana, he said, adding that licences of 114 ultrasound centres had been cancelled or suspended for violation of the PNDT Act.
At least 23 cases are pending against doctors for conducting such tests. 
- Indo-Asian News Service
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