Judicial Interpretation Of The PCPNDT Act: Balancing Women’s Rights And The State’s Duty To Prevent Female Foeticide

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Divyani, Christ (Deemed to be University), Pune Lavasa Campus

ABSTRACT

Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 (PCPNDT Act) was adopted to stop female foeticide in India. This Act attempts to strike a balance between the equality of the genders and also safeguard the girl child, as stated in Articles 14 and 15(3) of the Constitution. Its jurisprudential meaning has created significant disputes with Articles 21, reproductive autonomy, privacy, and the bodily integrity of women. The following paper provides a critical analysis of the way the PCPNDT Act has been interpreted and applied by Indian courts, along with some landmark cases, including CEHAT and Ors. v. Union of India (2001), Voluntary Health Association of Punjab vs Union of India (2013), Vinod Soni & Anr. v. Union of India and FOGSI vs Union of India. The paper contains a feminist and constitutional argument, which states that the Act, despite its good intentions, often reduces women to passive objects of protection instead of being active and bearers of rights. Comparative study of the reproductive rights models in the United States, South Korea and Nepal proves that social reform, education and empowerment can be more effective than criminalisation alone. The paper concludes that the rights- based, proportional, and intersectional approach is needed to counter the female foeticide without violating the constitutional right to prevent sex discrimination and the dignity, privacy, and reproductive freedom of women.

Keywords: PCPNDT Act, Judicial Interpretation, Reproductive Rights, Women’s Autonomy, Right to Privacy.

178. JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION OF THE PCPNDT ACT- BALANCING WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND THE STATE’S D

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