By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Friday admitted a petition seeking direction to the union health ministry to take foolproof and effective measures to curb the growing female foeticide in the country.
Admitting the petition by a social activist, Prabhakar Deshpande, the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan tagged it for hearing with another similar petition.
In his petition, Deshpande contended before the bench, which also included Justices R.V. Raveendran and D.K. Jain, that on an average one million female foeticides take place in the country annually through illegal abortions and this was heavily skewing the gender ratio of the society.
Deshpande contended that female foeticide continues at an alarming rate because of the government’s failure to effectively implement the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Test Act of 1994.
Contending that the government has neither the requisite manpower nor the necessary funds and infrastructure to implement the act, Deshpande sought the court’s direction to the government to increase its manpower and hike funds for the purpose.
He also sought the court’s direction to the government to limit the number of ultrasound machines in the country to a bare minimum, to be installed at only major government hospitals so that the machines could not be misused by unscrupulous doctors and health workers to determine the sex of an unborn child.