Sex selection case: BJP MLAs ‘bail out’ docs, face no action

Agra: Two days after two BJP MLAs allegedly prevented the arrest an Aligarh-based doctor couple blamed for conducting illegal pre-natal sex-determination test, Rajasthan police, a team of whose PCPNDT cell had to return empty-handed from the city on Monday, and their UP counterparts were still engaged in a war of words over who would make the arrests. The MLAs, Sanjeev Raja and Anil Parashar said, “This is Aligarh and we will not allow any outsider to make arrests here.”

IAS official Naveen Jain, the appropriate authority of Rajasthan’s pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (PCPNDT) cell, told TOI that their team had gone to Aligarh on Monday to conduct raids after receiving complaints of illegal sex determination tests being undertaken by the doctor couple. He said the doctors could not be arrested due to interference of the local BJP MLAs.

While Jain maintained that they would obtain an arrest warrant to seek custody of the doctor couple, he said any action against the MLAs for obstructing police from doing its duties should be taken by the Aligarh police, “since the incident happened in their jurisdiction and in their presence”. He said the raids were conducted only after taking the local administration and police in confidence and “hence it was their responsibility to deal with it”.

But Aligarh senior SP Rajesh Pandey said action would be initiated against the MLAs only if Rajasthan officials give a complaint in writing. Reacting to Pandey’s statement, Rajasthan official Naveen Jain said, “What is the need of a written complaint when the entire incident happened in front of the SHO?”

Talking to TOI, BJP’s MLA from Kol constituency, Anil Parashar, said they had prevented the Rajasthan police team from arresting the doctors as the case was “fabricated” and no officer from Aligarh was present during the raid.