Haryana doctors' body said they won't raid sex determination clinics if Dr Jai Bhagwan isn't reinstated.
Years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Save the Girl Child Scheme from Haryana in 2015, the state's medical civil services association has accused a BJP legislator of getting a civil surgeon suspended in an attempt to shield those accused in a sex determination scam.
The doctors' have demanded that Kaithal Civil Surgeon Dr Jai Bagwan should be reinstated. They have added that if the ML Khattar-led Haryana government fails to act, they would not conduct any more raids on diagnostic labs and hospitals under the PCPNDT Act, which bans sex determination of a foetus before birth.
Dr Bhagwan was suspended last week after MLA Lila Ram wrote to Home Minister Anil Vij alleging corruption in the Health Department. He had accused the doctor of misbehaving with people and public representatives, and flagged discrepancies in the hiring of outsourced workers.
The complaint letter was allegedly shot off days after Dr Jai Bhagwan was reportedly pressured to not raid an establishment conducting sex determination tests leading to the arrest of three people. A case in this regard was filed on September 20.
"MLA Lila Ram Gurjar pressured the team to discontinue the raid and leave immediately. When the team continued its raid, the MLA threatened the team would face consequences. Now Dr Jai Bhagwan has been suspended under frivolous charges," states a written complaint by the doctors' body to the Chief Minister.
The letter names the centre raided on September 20 and the doctor who was caught under the anti-sex determination law, and also condemns the MLA.
"The BJP MLA is resorting to vendetta politics. We want the government to revoke Dr Jai Bhagwan's suspension. If the government does not act fast we will not endanger our lives and raid sex determination centres... If this (suspension) is the reward we get for saving the girl child, we will not be able to discharge out duties... Why don't the public representatives raid these centres?" a member of the Haryana Medical Civil Services Association said.
"On the one hand the Prime Minister urges us to save the girl child, one the other hand we're pressured to not conduct raids. What do we make of this?" another member asked.
The boycott could jeopardise the Prime Minister's flagship Beto Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign in Haryana, among states with the lowest sex ratio in the country.