With the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign gaining traction and the government promising strict action against sex determination, a few people in Haryana have devised an ingenious way to carry on with the illegal act. They are performing sex determination tests at cowsheds.

Police, along with the health department officials, raided a cowshed at Gagsina village in Karnal district on Wednesday. Equipment, including an ultrasound machine, were seized from a room next to the cowshed. Four people, including cowshed owner Balkaar and midwife Santara, were arrested. Two people, including a doctor and a middleman Vinod, however, managed to flee.

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The gang would first ask the client to come to an undisclosed location, and from there she would be taken to the cowshed in Gagsina.

As part of its ongoing drive against ultrasound centres, the Haryana health department decided to send a dummy client to Vinod. A deal was struck for Rs 22,000 and Vinod took the woman to Gagsina. The team of police and health officials followed Vinod and caught the gang red-handed.

In 2011 Census, Haryana recorded the country's worst sex ratio at 822 for 1000 males. According to the state's health department, the figure has since improved and now stands at 844. However, given that sex determination centres are now being run out of cowsheds too, it is anybody's guess if Haryana will be able to shed its 'female child killer' tag anytime soon.



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