Observing that “female foeticide is not merely a statutory offence, it is a moral blight and a constitutional affront”, the High Court of Karnataka has refused to quash the criminal case registered against a radiologist at a district government hospital and others for sex determination after a 26-year-old woman was aborted after sex determination.
“The sequence of events, as unfolded from the complaint and the accompanying documents, discloses a chilling and interconnected chain of facts that culminated in extinguishment of a nascent life. The complaint lodged by a public servant- the District Health and Family Welfare Officer, is neither vague nor speculative as is contended, on the contrary it is lucid in narration, precise in its detail and grave in its import,” the court said.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while dismissing three accused in the sex determination case, Sardamma and her husband Dase Gowda, of Channapatna taluk, and Shashi S.L., 56, who was a radiologist at the district hospital, Ramanagara.
Third child
The case revolves around an incident on August 22, 2025, when Channakeshava and his wife Harshitha, who was pregnant with her third child after having two female children, allegedly embarked upon a deliberate quest to ascertain the sex of the unborn child. With the help their relatives and Sardamma and Dase Gowda, the woman underwent an illegal sex determination scan at the district hospital through Dr. Shashi, who disclosed sex of the foetus through coded communication.
