Noida: A sex determination centre was busted in a joint operation by Haryana’s health department and their counterparts in Noida on Friday.The centre was being run at a private radiology centre, Bharat Scanning Centre, in Sector 37, which was raided after health officials in Panipat received a tip-off. The team coordinated with GB Nagar deputy CMO Dr Chandan Soni and raided the centre on Friday. Officials sent a pregnant woman to the centre after striking a Rs 25,000 deal with a broker named Rohit. “Of the amount, Rs 20,000 was handed over to the staff on the day of the test, while Rs 5,000 was transferred online to the account of a woman named Maryam. Soon after the woman’s ultrasound, the staff distributed the cash among themselves and placed the remaining Rs 10,000 on the doctor’s table. The note was pre-identified with a serial number and matched with those found at the centre,” deputy CMO Soni said.Five persons, including the centre’s owner Dr Rajshree Jasuja, were arrested, and two ultrasound machines were seized during the operation. The team recovered the marked notes and also sealed the ultrasound machine and registers. Officials said that the centre had been running for over 10 years.Apart from Jasuja, Rohit and Maryam, medical store operator Amit, and receptionist Bablu were arrested.“An FIR has been filed under BNS 318(4) (cheating) and the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994,” deputy CMO said. In neighbouring Haryana, the govt has initiated a crackdown on sex test clinics. The govt will now utilise phone records and location data of arrested suspects to dismantle the network of illegal abortions and sex determination practices across the state.The strategy was discussed during a meeting of the state task force for improving sex ratio — chaired by additional chief secretary (health) Sudhir Rajpal — in Chandigarh last month. Rajpal stressed on the need for police and health officials to collaborate on raids on illegal abortion clinics and extend investigations beyond immediate offenders.The state has implemented the reverse tracking of all medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) and abortion cases beyond 12 weeks, particularly where couples already have one or more daughters. This year alone, Haryana has registered over 120 FIRs related to illegal abortion practices, including the sale of MTP kits. While challans have been filed in 39 cases, 47 are under investigation.
