Barwala doctor caught conducting illegal pre-birth gender test; detained

In a shocking case, a Barwala-based doctor, who has contested Assembly elections multiple times, was caught red-handed conducting an illegal sex determination test at a clinic in Hisar on Thursday.

The accused was identified as Dr Anant Ram Barwala. Acting on a tip-off, a Health Department team led by Dr Anamika Bishnoi, along with the police, learned about the activities of Dr Barwala, who is currently out on bail.

People familiar with the matter said the team sent a decoy to a private clinic in the Azad Nagar police station area of Hisar on Thursday evening for a fetal sex determination test. During the raid, the team caught the doctor red-handed.

A police spokesperson informed that the police team is still at the clinic and taking the requisite documents and statements, and also seized some other incriminating material reportedly used in the crime.

Dr Barwala has faced seven previous cases for conducting illegal sex determination tests and has been caught multiple times in the past. He was recently released on bail. He has also contested four elections from the Barwala Assembly constituency, including on a JJP ticket, in which he secured just 481 votes. He contested the 2009 Assembly election as a candidate of the Rashtriya Arya Raj Sabha (RARS) and polled 753 votes. Earlier, he had contested twice as an Independent candidate in 2000 and 2005, securing around 15,000 votes on both occasions.

Notably, he was also booked for a similar crime in 1999, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, and October 2023. On October 14, 2023, the Health authorities of Hisar and Sirsa districts conducted a raid and busted a racket involved in fetal sex determination, arresting three people acting as touts in Barwala. Then the police registered a case against Dr Barwala under the PNDT Act and Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.

The police are in the process of registering an FIR in the matter.