The Supreme Court of India ruled that police cannot register first information reports or investigate offences under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act [1].
This decision clarifies a legal ambiguity regarding who holds the power to enforce laws against fetal sex determination. By stripping police of these specific investigative powers, the court centralizes authority within specialized statutory bodies designed to handle these sensitive medical violations [4].
A bench comprising two justices, Sanjay Karol and N. Kotiswar Singh, delivered the verdict [5]. The court said that only designated statutory authorities are permitted to investigate offences under the PCPNDT Act [1]. Consequently, a magistrate is barred from taking cognizance of any chargesheet filed by the police [4].
The ruling sought to resolve conflicting judgments from various High Courts across the country [1]. The court said that the investigative framework of the PCPNDT Act resides exclusively with its own statutory officers rather than general law enforcement [4].
While the ruling limits the ability of police to lead investigations or file formal charges, some reports indicate that police may still be permitted to conduct raids [5]. However, the core investigative process and the subsequent legal filings must be handled by the authorized statutory bodies [1].
The court said that the specific nature of the PCPNDT Act requires the expertise of its designated authorities to ensure the law is applied correctly [4]. This prevents the standard police procedure from overriding the specialized statutory requirements established to curb sex-selective practices [1].
“Police cannot register FIRs or investigate offences under the PCPNDT Act.”
This ruling creates a strict legal firewall between general law enforcement and the specialized administration of the PCPNDT Act. By removing police from the investigation and filing process, the Supreme Court is ensuring that sex-determination cases are handled by medical and statutory experts rather than generalist police officers. This may slow down the initial filing of cases but aims to increase the legal validity of chargesheets to prevent them from being dismissed on procedural grounds.
