ORDER

1. Indian society’s discrimination towards female child still exists due to various reasons which has its roots in the social behaviour and prejudices against the female child and, due to the evils of the dowry system, still prevailing in the society, in spite of its prohibition under the Dowry Prohibition Act. The decline in the female child ratio all over the country leads to an irresistible conclusion that the practice of eliminating female foetus by the use of pre-natal diagnostic techniques is widely prevalent in this country. Complaints are many, where at least few of the medical professionals do perform Sex Selective Abortion having full knowledge that the sole reason for abortion is because it is a female foetus. The provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 are also being consciously violated and misused.

2. The Parliament wanted to prevent the same and enacted the Pre- Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition on Sex- Selection) Act, 1994 (for short ‘the Act’) which has its roots in Article 15(2) of the Constitution of India. The Act is a welfare legislation. The Parliament was fully conscious of the fact that the increasing imba