Aquib Ul Ahad Wani
Female foeeticide is truly a curse on the Indian society. There is known belief and saying that child is a gift of God but does everyone take it as a gift? Yes, people do consider it as a gift but only if the woman delivers a male baby. The joy of parenthood, the emotion attached to the gift, and the blessing parents feel are all lost and vanished when the child happens to be a girl. If child is a gift or a blessing then why girls are not treated well? Why injustice is done to them? It is believed that in countries like India there are millions of girls who are killed as soon as they are born. Furthermore, the most disturbing situation is that many girls are murdered even before they take their first breath. Though sex detection is prohibited in India, but unfortunately there are illegal health care facilities that still offer services related to sex detection.
Female foeticide takes place when a foetus is aborted after it is determined to be female. Under this illegal practice, the sex of the unborn child is determined by using the technique of ultrasound and if it happens to be a female foetus, it is aborted through medicine or surgery. It is one of the most rampant social evils in the country. It is rooted in the patriarchal mindset where boys are preferred over girls for various irrational reasons, not only in rural but in urban areas too. We have to raise awareness levels against the regressive practice of female foeticide, enforce laws far more stringently and provide much more incentives to the households for the birth of a girl child. I will discuss some measures which will be fruitful in eliminating this social Evil from our society.
The government should implemented stern policies against this by removing the child sex recognizing centers and totally banned their licenses who are involved in these activities. Moreover, the families who are involved in such acts are fined or penalized with a jail term of 2 years. The checking machines and equipments should not be provided to all the centers that involves the baby care centers and delivery centers and if required to provide the checking machines then it should be under proper care of the vigilance commission so that they can kindly look in to this matter. The higher status should be provided to women by involving them in the high profile jobs and that is the right way for empowering women. The special reservation policies for women should also be invoked with the purposes of women upliftment. The higher education should be provided to women so that they can take the decision on their own.
(The author is the student of law at University of kashmir. Views are his own)
