The identity of the unborn babies cannot be disclosed, said a new guideline formulated by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The directorate submitted the guideline to the High Court on Monday complying with its earlier order.
According to the guideline "No person, organisation, genetic counselling center, genetic laboratory or genetic clinic, including clinic, laboratory or center having ultrasound machine or imaging machine or scanner or any other technology capable or determining sex of fetus shall issue, display, publish, distribute, communicate in any manner or cause to be issued, displayed, published, distributed or communicated any advertisement, in any form, including internet or any symbolic expression, the availability of facilities to enable prenatal diagnosis or prenatal sex determination available as such center, laboratory, clinic or any other place."
"In the field of infertility treatment, no person or organisation, including infertility clinic, laboratory or center having technology capable of conducting sex selection on a woman or a man or on both or on any tissue, embryo, conceptus, fluid or gametes derived from either or both of them, shall issue, display, publish, distribute, communicate in any manner or cause to be issued, displayed, published, distributed or communicated any advertisement in any form, including internet, regarding facilities of prenatal sex determination or sex selection available at such infertility center, laboratory, clinic or at any other place," reads the guideline.
Following a writ petition, a High Court bench on February 3 in 2020 issued a rule upon the concerned bodies of the government to explain as to why the failure of the respondents to frame guidelines to prevent gender detection of unborn babies should not be declared illegal.
At the same time, the court wanted to know in the rule to explain as to why a direction should not be passed against the respondents to frame guidelines to prevent gender detection of unborn babies.
The High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed in this regard.
Following the HC rule, the DGHS formed a 19-member body to formulate the guideline. Finally the DGHS approved the guideline and submitted it to the HC.
Lawyer Ishrat Hasan, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, filed the writ petition on January 26, 2020, with the High Court as a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking necessary directives from the court.
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