Case against ayurveda guru for advice on sex selection

MUMBAI: The state government has filed a case against ayurveda expert Balaji Tambe in the judicial magistrate’s court at Sangamner in Ahmednagar district for violation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act.
A committee that went into allegations of sex-specific conception techniques prescribed by Tambe in his book ‘Ayurvedic Garbha Sanskar’ found that prima facie there was enough material to proceed in the case.
Dr Rajeev Ghodke, medical superintendent of Sangamner rural hospital, filed the case against Tambe on behalf of the state government.
Tambe remained unavailable for comment despite several attempts to contact him.
The original complaint against Tambe was made with the rural surgeon at Sangamner by Ganesh Borhade, a resident of Sangamner, in November last year.
“The government agency has woken up and filed a case against Tambe only after I filed a complaint against the local civil surgeon in the court and made him the first accused (for not acting in accordance with law),” Borhade said. “I filed the case against the civil surgeon for non-action in May.”
Borhade had complained against Tambe in November last year for advice on sex selection in his book, which was said to be in violation of the PCPNDT Act.
“The complaint was registered with the rural surgeon and was forwarded to the district civil surgeon,” Borhade said. “He then set up a committee to study the facts and the significance of the complaint. But there was no follow up or progress from the other side, the committee report got delayed.”
Borhade said he waited for five months for the report to come in.
“Then I decided to file the complaint against the civil surgeon before the judicial magistrate, where I made him the first accused,” Borhade said. “It led to the government agency waking up and getting moving. Finally, the government agency filed the case against Tambe on June 13.”
Archana Patil of the state directorate of health services said that action would be taken against Balaji Tambe for printing and publishing material that seemed to be in violation of the PCPNDT rules.
“What was mentioned in the Ayurveda book, it seems our technical committee has said that it violates the PCPNDT rules, hence the civil surgeon has taken appropriate action against Tambe,” Patil said.
The report said there was sufficient proof that the book prima facie violated the PCPNDT rules and a case should be filed against Tambe.
Any person who contrivances the provision PCPNDT act shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend three years and the fine which may extend to Rs 10,000.