Supreme Court affirms strict enforcement of sex selection ban, citing persistent patriarchal preferences
India's Supreme Court dismissed a Maharashtra doctor's appeal against criminal proceedings under the PCPNDT Act, affirming that sex-selection practices persist despite improvements in the child sex ratio. The court cited official government data showing the child sex ratio fell from 945 in 1991 to 919 in 2011, and noted India ranked 131 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025. The ruling underscores the continued relevance of the 1994 law prohibiting sex selection until entrenched social attitudes toward the girl child meaningfully change.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and P.K. Mishra of the Supreme Court of India refused to quash criminal proceedings against a Maharashtra doctor accused of violating the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 (PCPNDT Act). While acknowledging that India's child sex ratio has shown signs of improvement in recent years, the court stressed that several states still record sex ratios at birth below the national average, reflecting what it called 'deep-seated patriarchal preferences' for a male child and the continued prevalence of sex-selection practices. The bench referenced Census data showing the national child sex ratio declined from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001 and further to 919 in 2011. The court also cited India's drop in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025, where the country ranked 131 out of 148 nations, down from 129 the previous year. Justice Karol's authored ruling invoked poet Subhadra Kumari Chauhan's poem 'Balika ka Parichay' to illustrate the joy a daughter's birth should bring, framing the PCPNDT Act's purpose as enabling that joy. The court warned that allowing infractions to go unpunished would defeat the legislation's welfare objectives, and called for strict enforcement until widespread societal change renders such measures unnecessary.
What's missing
The ruling references 'clear signs of improvement' in the sex ratio in recent years but does not specify the most current sex ratio figures beyond the 2011 Census data cited; more recent data from the 2021 Census cycle or Sample Registration System would provide fuller context on the current trajectory.
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