Those arrested in  Haryana under the PNDT Act have been gifted with the chance to walk away free, thanks to an oversight by the Haryana government.

The Indian govt passed the PNDT Act (Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) in 1994 to counter female feticide in the country. However, as in the case with all other laws, for PNDT to come into force, the government needed to have the act notified, i.e., published it in the official gazette. The act would have then come into force the day it was notified. However, it now appears that Haryana govt, which should have published the act in 1997, published it only on March 4 this year, meaning that the act was effective only after March 4, 2009. Which, in turn, means that all those arrests that Haryana govt. made under the PNDT Act prior to March 4 can be deemed as illegal.

And that is exactly what those arrested under the PNDT Act have sought to do. As per a TOI report published today, “different courts of the state have been forced to acquit 5 people booked under the act, while 60 other medical practitioners booked under the act the past 12 years are now waiting to walk free”.