Indian court jails doctor for revealing gender of fetus

(CBC) - A doctor in northern India has been sentenced to jail for telling an undercover investigator that she was carrying a female fetus and suggesting the pregnancy could be "taken care of" if she preferred a son.

Unless they successfully appeal the ruling, radiologist Anil Sabsani and his assistant will serve two years in prison and pay a fine that is the equivalent of $130 Cdn.

The convictions are believed to be the first in India related to the widespread practice of gender-selective abortions.

Authorities believe hundreds of thousands of female fetuses are aborted in India every year, though performing abortions on the basis of gender is against the law.

Even revealing the gender of a fetus has been illegal since 1994.

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According to a recent study conducted by a Canadian researcher, an estimated 13.6 million to 13.8 million girls should have been born in India in 1997 alone.

Only 13.1 million female births were recorded, according to projections from a survey of 133,738 births.

Daughters are much less valued than sons in India. Girls are seen as more expensive because Indian tradition requires a bride's family to hand over dowries of money and goods to the groom's family.

That's why so many expecting parents give extra money to doctors and technicians performing ultrasound tests if they agree to tell them the gender of a fetus.

Investigators in Palwal, about 150 kilometres south of New Delhi in Haryana state, zeroed in on Sabsani's practice after receiving a number of complaints.

He told the pregnant investigator that for the equivalent of an extra $40 Cdn, he would reveal her fetus's gender.

When he received the money, he said she was carrying a girl and added: "But that can be taken care of."

Three similar cases against doctors are pending in Haryana state courts.

© the CBC, 2006