Female Foeticide: A Brutal Crime
Dr. S. S. Ghonkrokta, IAS
Director (Enforcement) Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
embryos or foetuses are selectively eliminated after pre-natal sex determination,
thus eliminating girl child even before they
are born. It is equally heinous, if not more
than the female infanticide, which is killing
a baby girl after her birth. Every year, half
a million girl children are being killed and
prevented from being born. The menace of
skewed sex ratio is evident by comparing
the Census figures. In 1991, the figure
was 947 girls to 1000 boys, whereas in
2001, it had fallen to 933 girls for 1000
boys and in 2011, it is 940 girls for 1000
boys. Surprisingly, this phenomenon is
more pronounced in Punjab, Haryana and
Delhi. There is a disturbing evidence that
foeticide trend is prevalent more in urban
areas rather than rural areas and this brutal crime is committed mostly by educated class. In fact, poor people do not
have the resources to have sex determination done. Nature’s equilibrium can be
permanently destroyed, if this decline is not checked.
I
ndia is predominantly a patriarchal society where males
are given superiority and are considered a status sym
bol of the family whereas women are given secondary
status. Though, women are now at par with men but men
are still considered the bread-winner in the family. An exorbitant dowry demand is one of the main reasons for female
infanticide. The beliefs that son will provide happy and
secured life to parents during their old age, perform last
rites and inherit the property, have led to the strong male
preference and increased female foeticide. The Constitution of India provides for the Right to equality under Article
14 and Right to live with dignity under Article 21. But when
it comes to female, both these rights are being violated in
the form of female foeticide. Though we are technologically
advancing, yet we are still lagging behind in our thinking.
With the development of technology for the pre-natal determination of sex of the child, infanticide has been replaced
by female foeticide. One of the most nefarious crimes,
female foeticide, on this planet is committed where female
This brutal crime is helped by methods like amniocentesis,
chorionic villus biopsy and ultrasonography. Amniocente19