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States must check substandard sterilisation, Centre tells SC

Last Updated 27 July 2014, 20:39 IST

The Centre has told the Supreme Court that state governments have to take up the cause of ensuring women’s safety to stop the menace of female sterilisation procedures being conducted in inhuman and pathetic conditions.

It said that state governments should take the lead in bringing in reforms in the health sector.In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the Union Health Ministry said that it had been keeping a close watch on developments in the health sector, even though it was a subject matter of the state.

The Union government said that it had continued to pass requisite directions to the states and tried to ensure that the rules to maintain standards of female sterilisation were complied with.The Health Ministry mentioned that the apex court had already directed the states to check coercive and risky sterilisation during the 2007 Ramakant Rai case.

The Supreme Court had underscored the need for uniform guidelines in performance of sterilisation procedures for women and men, including the requirement of informed consent, punitive action for violations, and compensation for victims.

Despite these directions, substandard sterilisation procedures were still being carried out unabated in different parts of the country. The Health Ministry’s submitted its stand in response to a PIL filed by Devika Biswas on behalf of the Human Rights Law Network NGO. 

Outlining examples of coerced and unsafe sterilisations in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, the petitioner had cited the example of a camp held at the Kaparfora Government Middle School at Araria in Bihar in January 2012. 

An NGO, in coordination with the state health society, had hired a private doctor to perform sterilisation procedures in a school classroom on 53 Dalit women.

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(Published 27 July 2014, 20:39 IST)

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