 bill no 138 of  2015 the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (prohibition of sex selection) amendment bill, 2015 byshri baijayant panda, mpa billfurther to amend the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques(prohibition of sex selection) act, 1994be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—amendment of section 22 in section 2 of the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (prohibition of sex selection) act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), after clause (a), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—'(aa) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;'53 after section 6 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section6a prohibition on removal of female foetus10"6a on and from the commencement of the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (prohibition of sex  selection) amendment act, 2015, no person or genetic counselling centre or genetic laboratory or genetic clinic, after having conducted pre-natal diagnostic procedure or test, shall conduct or cause to be conducted any surgical or any other procedure or administer medication or cause to be administered medication in any manner with the intention to remove the female foetus" 4 in section 23 of the principal act,—a m e n d m e n t of section 231520'(i) in sub-section (1), for the words "punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees and on any subsequent conviction, with imprisonment which may extent to five years and with fine which may extent to fifty thousand rupees", the words "punishable with imprisonment for a term which may  extent to four years and with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees and on any subsequent conviction, with imprisonment which may extend to ten years and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees" shall be substituted'(ii) after sub-section (4),  the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new subsection 23(5)25"(5) any person or organization, by whatever name called, who aids or abets the commission of offence of removal of female foetus or withholds information regarding commission of such offence shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years and with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees"a m e n d m e n t of section 25305 in section 25 of the principal act, for the words "punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine, which may extend to one thousand rupees or with both", the words "punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine, which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both" shall be substituted6 after chapter vii of the principal act, the following chapter shall be inserted, namely:—35insertion of new chapter viia "chapter viia establishment of fast track courts4028a nothwithstanding anything contained in this act, whoever contravenes any of the provisions of this act or any rules made thereunder shall be deemed to be guilty of committing an offence under this act and shall be dealt with in accordance with the procedure laid down in this chapterprocedure to deal with offences committed under the act establishment of fast track courts28b (1) for the purpose of providing speedy trail of offences, the appropriate government shall establish such number of fast track courts as it may deem necessary, to deal exclusively with the matters arising out of offences committed under this act45(2) the fast track courts under sub-clause (1) shall be established in consultation with the chief justice of the high court concerned(3) the expenses incurred in establishing the fast track courts and the administrative expenses of such courts, including salaries, allowances and pensions payable to or in respect of persons serving in that office, shall be borne by the central government528c an investigation into an offence committed under this act and the filing of charge-sheet in the fast track court shall be completed within a period of sixty days from the date of filing of a complaintinvestigation and filing of charge-sheet to be completed within sixty days28d the fast track court shall complete the trial within a period of one hundred and twenty days from the date of filing of charge-sheet in the court:10fast track court to complete the trial within one hundred and twenty daysprovided that where the trial cannot be completed within a period of one hundred and twenty days, the fast track court shall record in writing the reasons therefor and complete the trial within a further period of not more than sixty days, or within such further periods not exceeding sixty days at a time, for reasons to be recorded in writing, but not exceeding a total period of one year15offences committed to be exercisable by a fast track court28e on and from the commencement of the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (prohibition of sex selection) amendment act, 2015, the jurisdiction, powers and authority in relation to offences committed under this act shall be exercisable by a fast track court established under this chapter and no other court except the high court concerned and the supreme court shall have jurisdiction, powers or authority in relation to such offences20transfer of cases to the fast track court28f every suit or other proceeding filed or initiated under this act and pending beforeany other court, tribunal or authority immediately before the date of commencement of the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (prohibition of sex selection) amendment act, 2015 shall stand transferred on that date to the fast track court of competent jurisdiction: provided that nothing contained in this section shall apply to a suit or other proceedings pending in the high court or the supreme court, as the case may be"25 statement of objects and reasonsthe practice of female foeticide is prevalent in many parts of our country according to estimates, foetal sex determination and selective abortion of female foetus has grown into a huge industry with doctors making at least rupees 1,000 crore by conducting illegal sex-selection procedures in india the 2001 census revealed a decrease in child sex ratio from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001 the latest census in 2011 shows that the child sex ratio has dropped to 914 females against 1000 male the lowest since independence also, there is ample evidence to suggest that this practice of sex determination and female foeticide has grown among the upper and middle class of the society and has moved to cities and towns an estimated 15 million girls were wiped out simply not born in india over the last decade due to sex selection and female foeticide and not surprisingly, india ranks 113th out of 135 countries in the world economic forum's global gender gap index for 2011the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (prohibition of sex selection)act was enacted in 1994 to prohibit sex selection, before or after conception, and for preventing the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex determination however, ineffective implementation of this act has led to minimum number of convictions and dented the fight against female foeticide in 2001, seven years legislation, the supreme court directed state governments to enforce the provisions of the aforesaid act effectivelytherefore, it is necessary to establish fast track courts to quickly and efficiently deliver justice and convict those who commit the horrendous crime of female foeticidehence this billnew delhi;baijayant  pandaapril 6, 2015 financial memorandumclause 6 of the bill provides for establishment of fast track courts to deal exclusively with matters arising under the act all expenditure in respect of fast track courts shall be met out of the consolidated fund of indiait is estimated that a sum of rupees twelve crore will be required as recurring expenditure per annum a non-recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore is also likely to be involved annexure extract from the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (prohibition of sex selecton) act, 1994 (57 of 1994)|                                                                                             |     |     |                                                                                |     |     |     |    ||----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------|------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|-----|| offences and                                                                                 |      |      |                                                                                 |      |      |      |     || penalties                                                                                   |      |      |                                                                                 |      |      |      |     || 23                                                                                          | (    | 1    | ) any medical geneticist, gynaecologist, registered medical practitioner or any |      |      |      |     || person who owns a genetic counselling centre, a genetic laboratory or a genetic clinic or    |      |      |                                                                                 |      |      |      |     || is employed in such a centre, laboratory or clinic and renders his professional or technical |      |      |                                                                                 |      |      |      |     || services to or at such a centre, laboratory or clinic, whether on an honorary basis or       |      |      |                                                                                 |      |      |      |     || otherwise, and who contravenes any of the provisions of this act or rules made thereunder    |      |      |                                                                                 |      |      |      |     || shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with    |      |      |                                                                                 |      |      |      |     || fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees and on any subsequent conviction, with          |      |      |                                                                                 |      |      |      |     || imprisonment which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to fifty thousand |      |      |                                                                                 |      |      |      |     || rupees                                                                                      |      |      |                                                                                 |      |      |      |     || (                                                                                            | 2    | )   |                                                                                |     |     |     |    || (                                                                                            | 3    | )   |                                                                                |     |     |     |    || (                                                                                            | 4    | )   |                                                                                |     |     |     |    |25 whoever contravenes any of the provisions of this act or any rules made thereunder, for which no penalty has been elsewhere provided in this act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine, which may extend to one thousand rupees or with both and in the case of continuing contravention with an additional fine which may extend to five hundred rupees for every day during which such contravention continues after conviction for the first such contraventionpenalty for contravention of the provisions of the act or rules for which no specific punishment is provided       ———— a billfurther to amend the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (prohibition of sex selection) act, 1994————(shri baijayant panda, mp)gmgipmrnd—296ls(s3)—30-04-2015