Falling Female Ratio Is Shameful Ground Reality, Officers Must Work To Curb Female Foetecide: P&H HC Rejects Pre-Arrest Bail Of PNDT Clerk Booked For Corruption

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a nodal officer's clerk under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994, [PNDT Act] who allegedly in collusion with the officer, demanded a bribe from a doctor to settle the notice issued to him, under PNDT Act.

Justice Anoop Chitkara observed, "the Nodal Agencies under the PNDT are supposed to work with the highest standards of morality, with a strong and unshakeable sense of responsibility, and have to be bold enough to work towards curbing female foeticide, which has led to falling female-gender ratio in the North Indian population. "

When officials at such responsible, sensitive, powerful positions, instead of proudly shouldering their responsibilities, pawn off their morals, their honour, their duties; for illegal financial gains, the society needs to get alarmed, it added. 

The Court also noted that the petitioner's job was to keep an eye on the clinics that had licenses to conduct ultrasound, and such machines were under the provisions of the PNDT Act. Through ultrasound scans and amniocentesis, the sex of the foetus can be determined during the pregnancy of the woman and then the foetus is aborted if found to be female."

"The harsh, shameful, and repulsive ground reality is a falling female proportion in the population. Studies suggest that in India, men and women across all wealth strata, education groups, castes, tribes, religions, and states have a preference for sons. For example, 81% of ever-married women and 74% of ever-married men wanted at least one son, and a quarter of men and women wanted more sons than daughters3. In the absence of social security or Universal basic Income, patrilocality and patrilineality are the major reasons for such preference," the Court added.

It highlighted that "female foeticide is perhaps one of the worst forms of violence against women where a woman is denied her most basic and fundamental right i.e “the right to life”."

The Court was hearing an anticipatory bail petition of one Naveen, posted as a Clerk with Nodal Officer Panipat, Haryana, under PNDT Act, apprehending arrest in the FIR under Sections 384, 120-B IPC and Sections 7, 7-A of PC Act, on the allegations that (petitioner- accused) in collusion with Dr. Pawan Kumar Nodal officer, demanded a bribe of Rs. 2 lacs from complainant through Vishal Malik of Aadhar Hospital Panipat to settle the notice issued to the complainant doctor under PNDT Act.

After hearing the submissions and considering the material on record, the Court noted that the prosecution has produced the details of a transcript of the recording of negotiations of bribe amount from 2.20 lacs to 2 lacs, wherein the complainant explicitly mentioned that he needs time to pay Rs. Two lacs.

"There were no reasons for the petitioner to demand Rs 2,00,000 from the complainant, more so when the inspection of the complainant's clinic was the primary purpose of the petitioner and Nodal Officer's employment," noted the judge.

The Court noted that the accused made 90 calls to the doctor. "These massive calls highlight his complicity and corroborate the complainant's allegations about the demand for money and its subsequent recovery from the agent, Dr. Pawan Kumar, and the petitioner. A perusal of these conversations and the recovery of money from Vishal Malik's hospital through his agent Mr. Paras, the prosecution has collected sufficient evidence that prima facie points toward the petitioner's involvement, and he is not entitled to anticipatory bail," it opined. 

Horrific Number Of Female In Sex Ratio

The judge also highlighted that National Sample Survey Office, 2017, posted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Government of India, data per cent Share of Female Population in Total Population and Sex Ratio suggests horrific numbers.

"As per this data, in 2011, the female population ratio in India was 943 females compared to 1000 males, whereas in Haryana there were only 879 females in comparison to 1000 males."

"Similalrly, Lok Sabha Secretariat Parliament Library and Reference, Research, Documentation and Information Service (Larrdis) Members... suggests that in 2011, the global female population ratio was 984 to 1000 males, whereas in India, the female ratio was 940 to 1000, and in Haryana it was 885," it added.

The Court said that however, there has been a steady increase, and as per the latest data from the World Bank, the female ratio is 48.4%. "This global team effort cannot be permitted to be sabotaged by the corrupt government employees," it added.

Officers In Sensitive Position Betraying Trust

The Court said that in a society like ours, "many consider males as an asset and females as a liability for the family because of millenniums old, deep conditioning of male superiority, which is depicted by 'son preference' amongst the members of our society. Today the globe is witnessing the revolution of not only Information Technology but also of artificial intelligence, which has been a great gender leveller for all humans."

Thus, those who, for their small monetary gains misuse such sensitive positions, not only betray the trust the system has reposed in them, being in such responsible and powerful positions, but also fail society, making their conduct highly unethical, immoral and reducing them to the status of lowest kinds of human beings, it added.

 Considering the "background of the allegations", the Court opined that "the petitioner fails to make a case for anticipatory bail."

Title: Naveen v. State of Haryana

2024 LiveLaw (PH) 188

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