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, emphasizing that sex-selection practices persist despite improvements in the child sex ratio. The court cited official data showing the national child sex ratio fell from 945 in 1991 to 919 in 2011, and noted India's ranking dropped to 131 out of 148 in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025. The ruling underscores that strict enforcement of the 1994 law remains essential until deep-seated patriarchal attitudes toward the girl child are meaningfully changed.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and P.K. Mishra upheld criminal proceedings against a Maharashtra doctor accused of violating the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994, ruling that 'letting infractions slide' would undermine the law's purpose. While acknowledging that India's child sex ratio has shown 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 male children. The bench referenced Census data documenting a steady decline in the child sex ratio from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001 and 919 in 2011, and pointed to India's worsening global gender parity ranking as further evidence of systemic challenges. The court also acknowledged various state government schemes aimed at curbing female foeticide and improving conditions for women, describing them as sustained efforts to address systemic discrimination. Justice Karol's authored ruling invoked poet Subhadra Kumari Chauhan's work to illustrate the joy of a daughter's birth, framing the PCPNDT Act's objective as ensuring every mother can feel that same joy without fear of sex selection.
What's missing
The ruling does not specify the nature of the alleged PCPNDT Act violations by the Maharashtra doctor, nor the current stage or likely timeline of the criminal proceedings against him.
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