Female Foeticide is a social evil that has been prevalent in India since time immemorial. Although with social awareness and corrective legal actions, the situation is not as bad as it used to be but clearly we still have a long way to go in order to completely mitigate the practice from the roots.
With an aim to identify such crimes and to punish the culprits, a police station has been established in Jaipur that counters cases of female foeticde and prevents the practice, operating under the PCPNDT cell. This is going to be India’s first ever police station that will be dedicated to address female infanticide and sex determination issues.
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The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Cell was originally established to bridge the gender gap and create public awareness about the subject. Besides, the PCPNDT Act had already been introduced under which the practice of female Foeticide is punishable and has a provision for penalties. Despite such laws, the system hasn’t been able to get a good hold of the criminals.
However, if we talk about Rajasthan, the state is comparatively ahead of others when it comes to investigations and criminalizing the practice. As per the data, between 2009 and 2010, 9 cases were reported and solved while in 2018, as of now, 10 cases have already been registered in the past 2 months.
Following the example of Rajasthan, other states are also gearing up to get their respective teams trained in the process. Teams from Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh have already reached Rajasthan and are obtaining necessary training about the procedure.
The PCPNDT Act came into force in the year 1996 to punish the criminals of female foeticide. However, the system could not counter the cases with the much-needed severity. Considering the situation, the police station was established in the health care centre of Jaipur in 2016. The criminals booked under section 315/511 of IPC are directly held and tried at this station. Besides, to make the punishment severe, the 3-year jail term was increased to 7 years. This helped in bringing down the crime rate to a considerable level.
In all such cases, a monetary reward is given to the informer who helps out the police. Earlier, the sum was INR 1 Lakh but now the decoy woman gets a reward worth INR 1 Lakh, while her supporting fellow gets INR 50,000. As a result, now pregnant women are also actively involved in helping out the police catch the criminals.
