Mysuru:  “The slogan Beti Bacaho, Beti Padao is a very important one and it is coined to create awareness about the importance of saving girl child,” said Principal District and Sessions Court Judge S.K. Vantigodi.

He was speaking after inaugurating a District-level workshop on prenatal, postnatal and female infanticide issues, jointly  organised by District Administration, District Health Office and Zilla Panchayat at Rajendra Bhavan in JSS Hospital premises here this morning.

Considering this problem, the Government passed the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT) in 1994. This law was again amended due to various reasons, and it finally became Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PCPNDT) Act in 2004. Its main goal was prevention and punishment of prenatal sex determination and female foeticide, he said.

Workshops like this would go a long way in tackling such grave issues as aborting female foetus is illegal and those involved in it will be sentenced to three years in jail, he added.

District Legal Services Authority Member-Secretary B.P. Devamane, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer K. Jyothi, DHO  Dr. R. Venkatesh and others were present. Nearly 150 people including doctors, health officers and staff nurses participated in the workshop.