The High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh has ruled that the sex of an unborn child cannot be identified or disclosed.
The HC bench comprising Justice Naima Haider and Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque delivered the verdict on February 25, 2024.
The full text of the verdict was published on Monday (May 11).
In the ruling, the court said determining and disclosing the sex of an unborn child encourages discrimination against women, female foeticide, social imbalance, and violates constitutional rights.
According to the court, such practices go against women’s dignity, equality, and right to life, and also violate international human rights obligations.
In its observations, the court noted that Bangladesh had long lacked effective regulation, monitoring, and accountability mechanisms regarding the issue.
The court said merely formulating guidelines is not enough, adding that such unethical practices cannot be stopped without proper implementation, digital monitoring, and effective control mechanisms.
The verdict stated that a central database is necessary to preserve and monitor diagnostic reports of unborn children conducted at registered hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centres.
The High Court directed the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to create and regularly update a central digital database within six months.
The court further observed that determining foetal sex creates discrimination against girl children and increases the risk of female foeticide, which conflicts with Articles 18, 27, 28, 31, and 32 of the Constitution.
The bench also mentioned that countries including India have imposed strict legal controls on such practices.
The court declared the directive a “continuous mandamus,” allowing future judicial supervision over the implementation of the order.
The public interest litigation was filed on January 26, 2020, by Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan seeking a ban on the disclosure of unborn babies’ gender.
Advocate Ishrat Hasan argued the case herself, assisted by Tanzila Rahman, while Deputy Attorney-General Amit Das Gupta represented the state.
Bd-Pratidin English/ AM
