K'taka Govt mulling to invoke murder provisions in female foeticide cases

Belagavi: The state government has decided to treat female foeticide as a crime equivalent to murder. It has decided to formulate a comprehensive policy to prevent it and conduct a joint operation with the police department, the Karnataka Assembly was told.

In a reply during the half-hour debate in the Legislative Assembly on the female feticide case, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said that the law needs to be amended to invoke IPC sections related to murder against those guilty of feticide. These amendments will be implemented in the next session, he said.

Along with creating awareness in society, the government also wants to create a fear of law among people, against indulging in such heinous acts, he said.

A CID probe has already been ordered to probe such incidents, Rao said.

Health Department officials have been directed to regularly conduct spot inspections, the Minister said but acknowledged that ineffective implementation of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act is coming in the way of fully stopping cases of female foeticides and arresting the declining sex ratio in India.

The minister said that to prevent female foeticide, the families and individuals who cooperate in female foeticide, along with the accused,  should be punished. Fear is created only when a case is filed under tougher sections of IPC. “Earlier the case was registered under section 312. Due to this the accused are getting bail easily. An instruction has now been given to register a case under sections 315, and 316. An amendment to the act is required to register a case under section 302,” he said.

He explained that a comprehensive policy will be formulated in this regard in the next session, following inputs from the law department.

Opposition leader R. Ashoka demanded a SIT be formed to investigate the case, to which the minister did not consent.

(With PTI inputs)