Indian activists welcome top court ban on ‘sterilisation camps’ after deaths

Women’s health activists on Friday cheered a ruling by India’s top court ordering the government to shut down “sterilisation camps” within three years following the deaths of hundreds of largely poor rural women across the country.

In a judgment on Wednesday, the Supreme Court said 363 women died between 2010 and 2013 during or after surgery in sterilisation camps due poor management by local authorities which included doctors using dirty equipment and expired drugs.

It called on the federal government to ensure the country’s 29 states and seven union territories halt the camps, provide adequate compensation for victims and their families, and hold negligent doctors accountable.

Activists have long campaigned for better regulation of sterilisation camps – where women are gathered for mass surgeries to sever or seal their fallopian tubes – and more investment in alternative forms of contraception.

“We welcome the Supreme Court judgment which we consider a landmark one. Providing quality services to and upholding the dignity of women will now be placed strongly on the national agenda,” said Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India (PFI).

“This judgment has the potential to shape India’s family planning programme into a programme of national significance.”

India’s efforts to rein in population growth have been described as the most draconian after China. Birth rates have fallen in recent decades, but population growth is still among the world’s fastest.