New Delhi, Aug. 13: The Supreme Court today issued notices to Google India, Yahoo India and Microsoft Corporation (I) Private Limited on a petition seeking to block their search engines from promoting sex-selection kits.

The petition, filed by Thiruvananthapuram resident S.G. Mathew, has also sought a directive to stop all forms of ads promoting sex-selection kits or such technologies on the websites.

Sale or promotion of such kits is against the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994, the petition said, seeking punitive, deterrent and stringent action against the entities.

It urged the court to slap exemplary damages on these companies for violating the law.

“A separate monitoring cell, consisting of the director of Computer Emergency Response Team and members of civil society, should be constituted to monitor the implementation of the act.”

This is the second such petition to be filed in the apex court. The Voluntary Health Association of Punjab, an NGO, had earlier drawn the court’s attention to the free availability of sex-determination kits online.

“These kits… allow the user to know the sex of the foetus only by analysis of blood samples of the pregnant woman,” it had said.

The NGO had also given extensive information about how these kits work.

Gender-determination tests of any kind or any such ad is punishable with a jail term extending to three years and a fine that may go up to Rs 10,000.