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Rekha Sengar v. State of Madhya Pradesh

Special Leave Petition (Criminal) · 2021 INSC 37Decided 21 Jan 2021
Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 380 of 2021
Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar · Justice Vineet Saran · Justice Ajay Rastogi

Background

The petitioner was accused, along with another person, of running an illegal sex-determination and sex-selective abortion racket from her residence in Morena, Madhya Pradesh, using an unregistered ultrasound machine. A sting operation conducted by the local PC&PNDT Advisory Committee caught her accepting Rs 7,000 from a decoy "pregnant woman" for the service, after which the ultrasound machine and related equipment were seized from her home. She had been in judicial custody since September 2020, and both the trial court and the Madhya Pradesh High Court had already refused her bail.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court refused to grant bail, holding that the charge sheet and sting-operation evidence disclosed a strong prima facie case against her. The Court traced the legislative history of the PC&PNDT Act, enacted to curb India's skewed sex ratio and female foeticide, and emphasised that such offences are treated as grave crimes against society, warranting a strict, no-leniency approach at the bail stage. It rejected her plea for parity with a co-accused who had been granted bail, noting her more active role in the offence, and dismissed the Special Leave Petition while leaving it open to her to seek expedited trial.

Lesson Learnt

Courts treat offences under the PC&PNDT Act (illegal sex-determination and sex-selective abortion) with particular seriousness, and a clear prima facie case built on sting-operation evidence will usually outweigh pleas for bail even after prolonged custody.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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