Illegal Scan Centres Untouched as Killers Arrested
The police in Warangal and Karimnagar are yet to shut down or even name the clinics that provided the illegal sex-determination tests that led to the violence.
Warangal/Karimnagar: Despite the arrest of men who allegedly killed their daughters and wives because they wanted sons, a major question remains: Why are the hidden partners in these crimes — the illegal scanning centres — still walking free in the erstwhile Warangal and Karimnagar districts?
The police in Warangal and Karimnagar are yet to shut down or even name the clinics that provided the illegal sex-determination tests that led to the violence.
In the Punnelu village case, Azharuddin is accused of drowning his wife, Farhat, and their two young daughters. Investigation found that he had forced his wife to undergo two abortions in the past because illegal scans showed she was carrying girls.
In Karimnagar, Kachu Sreeshailam began hating his twin daughters the moment a doctor told him their gender before they were even born.
The lack of action from the police has led many to believe the scanning centres that offered sex determination tests have had enough time to hide their records and delete camera footage. It was seen that the police and health department were simply passing the blame to each other.
Because medical laws are specialised, police often wait for health officials to act, while health officials say they don't have the power to make arrests. This delay allows the illegal business to continue as usual.
Cities like Warangal and Karimnagar have more than 100 scanning centres, often using local village doctors (RMPs) to bring in customers for illegal tests by paying them between `3,000 and `5,000 per patient. Even though Azharuddin admitted to forcing abortions based on these scans, the police have not explained why the doctors who helped him haven't been arrested.
People in the region demand that the police stop waiting for tragedies to happen and start taking real action. They want a special task force to use secret shoppers to catch doctors who break the law. So far, the authorities' failure to find and close these baby-gender factories sends a dangerous message that they can get away with it. Until the police treat an illegal scan as the first step toward murder, the laws will remain useless and the lives of young girls will stay in danger, they noted.
