HC bans disclosure of unborn child’s sex

The High Court has issued a significant ruling prohibiting the identification and disclosure of the sex of unborn children. The verdict was delivered on February 25, 2024, by a High Court bench comprising Justices Naima Haider and Kazi Zinat Hoque.

In the full text of the judgment released today (Monday), the court said that determining and revealing the sex of an unborn child encourages discrimination against women, increases the risk of female foeticide, creates social imbalance, and violates constitutional rights.

According to the court, such practices undermine women’s dignity, equality, and right to life, and are also inconsistent with international human rights obligations.

The court observed that Bangladesh has long lacked effective regulation, monitoring, and accountability mechanisms in this area. It stated, “Merely framing a guideline is not enough; without implementation, digital monitoring, and effective regulatory measures, it is impossible to stop this unethical practice.”

The full verdict further said that a central database is necessary to preserve and monitor diagnostic reports of unborn children generated by registered hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centres. The High Court directed the Directorate General of Health Services to establish and regularly update a central digital database within six months.

The court also noted that fetal sex determination fosters discrimination against girls and raises the risk of female foeticide, which conflicts with Articles 18, 27, 28, 31, and 32 of the Constitution. The judgment further referred to countries including India, where such activities are strictly regulated by law.

The court declared the directive a “continuous mandamus,” allowing judicial oversight of its implementation in the future.

It may be recalled that on January 26, 2020, Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan filed a public interest writ petition seeking a ban on the disclosure of the sex of unborn children. She argued the case herself, assisted by Tanzila Rahman. Representing the state was Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta.