In a major crackdown on illegal sex determination and abortion practices, officials of the State Appropriate Authority under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act conducted a successful decoy operation in Hunuganahalli Hundi, Bannur taluk of Mysuru district, on Wednesday.
The illegal setup was allegedly being managed by a nurse and others. While seven persons, including the nurse, have been booked, police confirmed the arrest of four persons. They are on the lookout for the remaining accused. Cash was also seized from the premises.
The joint operation by the State and District Appropriate Authorities (PCPNDT) and the State and District Inspection and Monitoring Committees (SIMC and DIMC), in coordination with Health officials from Mandya and Mysuru, led to the unearthing of a clandestine setup allegedly involved in prenatal gender testing and sex-selective abortions.
How it unfolded
The operation followed nearly four months of surveillance by the Mandya district health team, which had used a pregnant woman as a decoy to build the confidence of the accused. The team had gathered evidence that the racketeers were offering to determine the sex of the foetus and terminate pregnancies if the foetus was found to be female. They demanded ₹30,000 for the procedure, officials said.
