Health minister Suresh Shetty's proposal to amend the current laws for anti sex selection received huge protests from many popular women's groups in the city. According to the proposed amendment all people invovled in the act of female foeticide would have to be booked under murder charges.
Many female organizations such as Stree Mukti Sanghatana, Forum Against Sex Selection, Akshara, All India Democratic Women's Association, Population First, among others have signed on a letter which read “According to the PCPNDT Act, sex selection itself is a crime and the doctors involved should be punished as per the provisions of the act. The pregnant woman on whom sex selection is performed or undertaken is not an offender according to the act. The same should continue in Maharashtra”. This letter is yet to be submitted to Prithviraj Chavan.
One women's group protested that the if the proposal was accepted it would further deprive women of her rights to abortion which is completely unacceptable. The issue should instead concentrate more on the institutes and the doctors misusing the technology.
Common Health doctor, Dr Suchitra Dalvie questioned that if one kind of abortion can be considered as a murder why shouldn't the others be considered similarly. She also woed, “the main culprit and the root cause is “sex discrimination” but we instead concentrate on sex- selection.” Dr. Gopinath Shenoy contested the proposal saing that a 20-week old foetus is self sufficient to sustain itself and hence cannot be categorized as a living entity and hence it cannot be considered as a murder. Dr. Seshagiri Rao opined that it is the mindset of the society that has to change and not the laws.
Creating a section under penal code as a measure to put a check to female foeticide is just ignorant. Furthermore it would only deprive the deserving women of their rights to seek abortion as the healthcare providers would be scared to perform the procedure on deserving ones for the fear of murder charges. It could also force women opt for dangerous methods.
AW- Anil
