SAKSHAM FOUNDATION CHARITABLE SOCIETY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These proceedings have been instituted by a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, seeking to challenge the constitutional validity of Section 5 (2) and Clauses (a) and (b) of Section 6 of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994. Apart from challenging the constitutional validity of the provisions, the following reliefs have been sought:

(2.) The first ground of challenge is that the prohibition of sex determination violates the rights of the unborn child and is, therefore, contrary to Article 21 of the Constitution of India. In the alternate, the second submission is that, it is only when a compulsory disclosure is made by the medical professional conducting an ultrasonography test of the sex of the unborn foetus, can a record be maintained of the sex of the foetus. In the absence of disclosure, it has been submitted, there is only a moral duty of the doctor not to disclose and in consequence, the female foetus is ultimately aborted.

(3.) The PC & PNDT Act, 1994 was specifically enacted to provide for the prohibition of sex selection, before or after conception, and for regulation of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for the purposes of detecting genetic abnormalities or metabolic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or certain congenital malformations or sex-linked disorders and for the prevention of their misuse for sex determination leading to female foeticide and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The Statement of Objects and Reasons accompanying the Bill, which was introduced in Parliament, is to the following effect: