Maharashtra sex determination racket goes underground: Portable scanners, home ops help evade cops

Illegal sex determination and abortion services have been shifting away from registered clinics and into homes and portable facilities in Maharashtra, making it harder for authorities to detect and prevent these violations. On August 1, health officials sent a pregnant woman as a decoy to a suspected illicit center in Akola, intending for her to receive banned foetal sex determination tests.

When officials seized a portable tablet-based sonography machine and medicines from an unregistered facility, three people were booked. While Maharashtra recorded a slight improvement in the child sex ratio, the real issue lies in the fact that rural areas saw a rise in the ratio while urban areas remained stagnant. The PCPNDT Act prohibits sex selection and regulates the use of pre-natal diagnostic technology, but enforcement has proven challenging due to the underground nature of these operations.

Authorities have increased the use of decoy operations, with 118 conducted in 2025-26 and 13 resulting in successful convictions. However, the gap between cases reaching court and convictions being achieved remains significant.