Karnataka High Court declines to quash female foeticide case against government doctor and others

Observing that “female foeticide is not merely a statutory offence, it is a moral blight and a constitutional affront”, the High Court of Karnataka has refused to quash the criminal case registered against a radiologist at a district government hospital and others for sex determination after a 26-year-old woman was aborted after sex determination.

“The sequence of events, as unfolded from the complaint and the accompanying documents, discloses a chilling and interconnected chain of facts that culminated in extinguishment of a nascent life. The complaint lodged by a public servant- the District Health and Family Welfare Officer, is neither vague nor speculative as is contended, on the contrary it is lucid in narration, precise in its detail and grave in its import,” the court said.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while dismissing three accused in the sex determination case, Sardamma and her husband Dase Gowda, of Channapatna taluk, and Shashi S.L., 56, who was a radiologist at the district hospital, Ramanagara.

Third child

The case revolves around an incident on August 22, 2025, when Channakeshava and his wife Harshitha, who was pregnant with her third child after having two female children, allegedly embarked upon a deliberate quest to ascertain the sex of the unborn child. With the help their relatives and Sardamma and Dase Gowda, the woman underwent an illegal sex determination scan at the district hospital through Dr. Shashi, who disclosed sex of the foetus through coded communication.

After disclosure that the fetus was female, monetary negotiations ensued, prohibitory medication was administered at a private clinic and the pregnant woman was sent back, only to suffer profuse bleeding the very same night, leading to the death of the fetus.

Systemic racket

While the woman’s husband, Channakeshava, has been arraigned as accused number no. 1, the complaint has also alleged that the present incident is not an isolated case of sex determination but a systematic racket is behind it as Sardamma and Dase Gowda were said to be agents to bring patients for sex determination.

Referring to the apex court judgments, which repeatedly underscore that leniency, at the threshold in such matters, risks rendering the law a dead letter and emboldening those who trade in gender discrimination under the cloak of medical expertise, the High Court said that it is not a fit case to interfere at this stage.