Two Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs from Aligarh allegedly stopped officials of the Rajasthan government on Tuesday night from detaining a doctor couple accused of conducting illegal prenatal sex-determination tests, reported ANI. Sanjeev Raja and Anil Parashar allegedly did not allow the authorities seize the ultrasound machine either.

The Rajasthan team had reportedly caught Dr Jayant Sharma and his wife conducting a prenatal sex determination test at their Jeevan Nursing Home on Monday evening. The local police had taken the couple and the ultrasound machine to the Kwarsi Police Station. The MLAs, along with the superintendent of police (city), the city magistrate and other officials also went to the police station and left only after the doctors were released, reports said.

“We tried to convince the MLAs to allow the legal procedure to proceed, but they refused to listen,” Aligarh District Magistrate Rishikesh Bhaskar Yashod was quoted as saying by The Indian Express, adding that after the Rajasthan team had sought help, he had sent a magistrate-rank officer with it.

Rajasthan’s Pre-Conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Cell had sent a pregnant woman to the clinic. The doctors were caught while they were conducting the test on her, according to the report. Naveen Jain, an official of the cell, said they could not complete the operation, but will soon procure an arrest warrant against the doctors.

However, MLA Parashar said they went to the police station to ensure that the doctors were not framed in a false case. “We believe in ‘beti bachao, beti padhao,’” he told ANI. The district magistrate is wrong. We only wanted a fair inquiry.”

Dr Sharma also denied the allegations. “The team from Rajasthan forcibly entered the hospital and sealed the ultrasound machine and the digital video recorder,” he told The Indian Express. “Nothing illegal happened, and public representatives reached after hearing about the matter.”