Female foeticide has been a blot on the patriarchal South Asian society — a society that values males and discriminates against the female sex. The result has been a skewed, highly lopsided sex ratio in parts of northern India.

The social preference for males coupled with modern sex determination tests leading to female foeticide have led to a situation where men in the north Indian states of Punjab and Haryana are forced to seek brides from outside the state and even the region. This leads to another evil practice of buying poor girls from the eastern states of Bihar and Bengal for marriage. In the light of this, the recent jail sentence to an Indian doctor and his assistant — for revealing the sex of a female foetus and then agreeing to abort it — is a welcome development. This is the first time medical professionals in India have been jailed in such a case. Under Indian laws, ultrasound tests on a pregnant woman to determine the gender of the foetus are illegal, but it has been estimated that 10 million female foetuses have been terminated in India in the past 20 years. However, doctors have disputed this figure, saying the pre-birth gender checks had waned since a Supreme Court crackdown in 2001. But while the law remains on paper, new such cases occur every day.

The case unfolded as government officials sent in three pregnant women as decoy patients to find out if the clinic in question would carry out abortions based on sex selection. Audio and video evidence nailed the doctor and his assistant promising the termination of pregnancy. The judgment has proved to be a shot in the arm for social campaigners and NGOs fighting for gender justice against female foeticide. But more such judgments will need to be given before it has some effect on the deeply ingrained, conservative mindsets that views girls as a burden and boys as a blessing, though the experiences of many aged parents have proved otherwise.

 

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