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The Recent provisional 2011 census report revealed that Child sex ratio drops to
lowest since Independence,it has dropped to 914 females against 1,000
males,Madhu Kishwar saySick culture of preferring sons´ is the reason for lower
sex ratio´.

Definition of Infanticide:

Female infanticide is the deliberate killing of girl babies.It is also


described as gender-selective killing or "gendercide". (Similar words
like 'gynocide' and 'femicide' are used to describe the killing of
females of any age.)1 Female infanticide is more common than male
infanticide

In sociology and biology, infanticide is the practice of intentionally


causing the death of an infant of a given species by a member or
members of the same species. Several species other than homo
sapiens commit infanticide, particularly fish and reptiles. One perhaps
surprising mammalian example is the bottlenose dolphin, which has
been reported to kill its young through impact injuries.2
Infanticide was common in most literate ancient cultures, including
those of ancient Greece, Rome, India, China, and Japan. The practice
of infanticide has taken many forms, such as child sacrifice to
supernatural figures or forces, as allegedly practiced in ancient
Carthage Pagans in the Roman Empire had a very different view about
the value of human life than we do today. Infanticide was legal and
encouraged in ancient Greece and Rome. Other pagan societies, such

1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtm
2
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Infanticide
as the Carthaginians, went so far as to kill their children as religious
sacrifices to their gods3

"Know that I am still in Alexandria.... I ask and beg you to


take good care of our baby son, and as soon as I received
payment I shall send it up to you. If you are delivered (before
I come home), if it is a boy keep it, if a girl, discard it."

The Qur'an on female infanticideµWhen the infant girl, is buried alive,


is questioned, for what crime she was killedµ.[Surah 81 v 8 ² 9] G ou
shall not kill your children for fear of want. We will provide for them
and for you. To kill them is a grievous sin.µ[Surah 17 v 31, The Sikhism,
Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism condemned infanticide .

Baha'u'llah, founder prophet of the Baha'i Faith unequivocally asserts


the spiritual equality of women and men. He states, "All should know«
Women and men have been will always be equal in the sight of God,"
and He indicates that, "In this Day the Hand of Divine grace hath
removed all distinctions. The servants of God and His handmaidens
are regarded on the same plane." 4

China and India have the highest rates because of sex-selective


infanticide and abortion. China, where the introduction of ultrasound
scans in the late 1980s has led to a birth sex ratio of 1.19 (2005 data),
according to Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Fisher's principle:

Fisher's principle is an explanation of why the sex ratio of most


species is approximately 1:1. Outlined by Ronald Fisher in his 1930

3
http://www.christiancadre.org/member_contrib/cp_infanticide.html
4
http://www.pucl.org/reports/National/2001/female.htm
book, it is an argument in terms of parental expenditure. Essentially he
argues that the 1:1 ratio is the evolutionarily stable strategy.5
India : Sex Ratio
The Census 2011's provisional data, released on 30th March 2011 showed
that the sex ratio for children below 6 years has dropped from 927 to a
dismal 914 girls for every 1,000 boys.6

2001 Census Sex Ratio:


India 933
Rural 946
Urban 900

2001 cenus Sex Ratio Data


State with Highest Female Sex Ratio Kerala 1,058

State with Lowest Female Sex Ratio Haryana 861

UT with Highest Female Sex Ratio Pondicherry 1,001

UT with Lowest Female Sex Ratio Daman & Diu 710

District with Highest Female Sex Ratio Mahe (Pondicherry) 1,147

District with Lowest Female Sex Ratio Daman (Daman & Diu) 5917

Overview of law relating to Infanticide &abortion in India:

The Article 21 of Indian constitution provide right to life and right to


privacy and the Article 6(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights prohibit the arbitrary deprivation of life. However,
under MTP Act, 1971" guarantees the Right of Women in India to

5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher%27s_principle
6
http://censusindia.gov.in/, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/census-of-india-2011-
shocking-gender-bias-among-175-humanity/articleshow/7840479.cms.
7
http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/fsex.aspx
terminate an unintended pregnancy by a registered medical
practitioner in a hospital established or maintained by the Government
or a place being approved for the purpose of this act by the
Government. But not all pregnancies can be terminated. The abortion
is not allowed after 20 weeks of pregnancy , unless under exceptional
circumstances such as a threat to the mother·s life. Section 3 of the
MTP Act contends that pregnancy can be terminated if therapeutic
causes like physical &mental abnormalities or victim of rape, failure
of contraception or risk death of pregnant women.

Section 312&313 of Indian Penal Code :

Whoever voluntarily causes a woman with child to miscarry, shall, if


such miscarriage be not caused in good faith for the purpose of saving
the life of the woman, be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or
with both, and, if the woman be quick with child, shall be punished
with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend
to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

"Whoever commits the offence defined in the last preceding section


without the consent of the woman, whether the woman is quick with
child or not, shall be punished with [ imprisonment for life] or with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten
years, and shall also be liable to fine"

In Roe Vs Wade by the US Supreme Court in this case the Court held
that a mother may abort her pregnancy for any reason, up until the
"point at which the fetus becomes 'viable.'".

In Arun Balakrishnan Iyer and Anr vs. Soni Hospital and Ors8 , the
Madras High Court held that, the removal of the uterus without the

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consent is actionable and victim is liable for compensation.But in Ms.X


vs. Mr. Z and Anr,9 the Delhi High Court held that an aborted foetus
was not a part of a body of women and allowed the DNA test of the
aborted foetus at the instance of the husband though the application
was opposed by the wife on the ground ¶Right to Privacyµ. The court
held that right to privacy is not absolute right liable for reasonable
restrictions.

Sex-selective abortion &PNDT Act :


Female infanticide had been prohibited through legislation in the pre-
independence period, certain provision like section 312&313 of Indian
Penal Code,1860, existing before India attaining independence.

It was the state of Maharashtra ,which enacted the first law called
GMaharashtra Regulation of Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act,
1988µ and later ,Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and
Prevention of Misuse) Act 20th September 1994 was enacted by
Government of India.
Pre ²natal test should be used only to detecting genetic or metabolic
disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or certain congenital mal-
formations or sex-linked disorders and act sought to prevent the
misuse of the test for sex-determaintion, which will eventually lead to
abortion of female fetus. According to UNICEF, the problem is getting
worse as scientific methods of detecting the sex of a baby and of
performing abortions are improving.

Amendment of PNDT: Gn ct to provide for the prohibition of sex


selection, before or after conception, and for regulation of pre-natal
diagnostic techniques for the purposes of detecting abnormalities or
metabolic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or certain
congenital malformations or sex-linked disorders and for the

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prevention of their misuse for sex determination leading to female
foeticide and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Pre-natal diagnostic techniques include all pre-natal diagnostic
procedures and pre-natal diagnostic tests.

Doctor· s unethical practices : Diagnostic teams with ultrasound


scanners which detect the sex of a child advertise with catch lines
such as Gspend 600 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees laterµ.

The PCPNDT ct 1994 (Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic


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Techniques ct) was modified in 2003 to target the medical
profession The 'silent observer' device embedded in an ultrasound
machine generates a log of all pregnancy tests done over a year. It
feeds the personal data of patients and radio images to the main
server installed at the district collector's office. The district
administration uses this data to verify whether the women who went
for ultrasounds continued with their pregnancies or underwent an
abortion. The vigil is stricter in the case of women who have a history
of delivering girls.
Cehat and Ors. vs. Union of India, IR 2003,3309:
On 18 ugust 2006, the Supreme Court of India has issued notices , on
a petition by a civil society organisation, Voluntary Health ssociation
of Punjab to the Indian government and the states and union territories
on a petition seeking stricter implementation of laws that ban pre-
natal sex-selection tests and sex-selective abortions in India. The
Supreme Court observed that the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal
Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) ct 1994
(PCPNDT) that is meant to prevent female foeticide in India, has
failed.11
For effective implementation of the ct, information should be
published by way of advertisements as well as on electronic media.

10
http://www.unicef.org/india/media_3285.htm
11
Cehat and Ors. vs. Union of India, AIR 2003,3309, http://www.cehat.org/humanrights/caselaws.pdf
This process should be continued till there is awareness in public that
there should not be any discrimination between male and female
child.
b) Quarterly reports by the appropriate authority, which are submitted
to the Supervisory Board should be consolidated and published
annually for information of the public at large.
c) ppropriate authorities shall maintain the records of all the
meetings of the dvisory Committees.
d) The National Monitoring and Inspection Committee constituted by
the Central Government for conducting periodic inspection shall
continue to function till the ct is effectively implemented. The
reports of this Committee be placed before the Central Supervisory
Board and State Supervisory Board for any further action.
e) s provided under Rule 17(3), public would have access to the
records maintained by different bodies constituted under the ct.
f) Central Supervisory Board would ensure that the following States
appoint the State Supervisory Board as per the requirement of Section
16. 1. Delhi 2. Himachal Pradesh 3. Tamil Nadu 4. Tripura 5. Uttar
Pradesh.
g) s per requirement of Section 17(3)(a), the Central Supervisory
Board would ensure that the following States appoint the multi-
member appropriate authorities: 1. Jharkhand 2. Maharashtra 3.
Tripura 4. Tamil Nadu 5. Uttar Pradesh.It will be open to the parties to
approach this Court in case of any difficulty in implementing
the aforesaid directions

Ms. rchana adav, judicial magistrate, Ist Class , GURGON , [Udyog


Vihar police station limits]convicted five Gurgaon doctors Dr J L
Mahajan of Palam Vihar, Dr M S Talekar, Dr D B Lal, Dr P B Lal of
Sector 4 and Dr K K Saraswat of New Palam Vihar. ll five have been
convicted for committing offence under section 23 of Prenatal
diagnostic techniques (PNDT) act and ordered rigorous imprisonment
of three years with a fine of Rs 1,000 each. 12

Sex Selection ²Internet advertisements:

In response to a petition filed by advocates in Supreme Court of India ,


Google and Microsoft have pulled ads from their Web sites for gender
selection products and techniques considered illegal in the country. In
ugust ,2008, Supreme Court requested that the two companies,
Google as well as ahoo, respond to complaints made by advocates
who said ads for products for gender selection, such as do-it-yourself
kits, deter their work to end sex-selective abortions in the country.13

Steps to improve sex-ratio-challenge to Judiciary:

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has undertaken training of trainers


from State Judicial cademies to train lower judiciary with the
objective to sensitize the judiciary on the issue. National Inspection
and Monitoring Committee (NIMC) having representatives of
Department of Women & Child Development, National Commission for
Women, Indian Council for Medical Research as members, undertakes
periodical visits to the districts with low child sex ratio (0-6 years) to
oversee the implementation of the ct at ground level and monitors
the prosecutions launched against unregistered bodies and bodies
violating provisions of the ct/rules and directions of the Supreme
Court of India in the matter. The National Support and Monitoring Cell
is being constituted as a mechanism to help ppropriate authorities in
apprehending the wrong doer who are committing female
foeticide/abetting female foeticide. District Magistrates have also been
requested to regularly review the implementation of the Pre-
conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques ct along with other
health programmes in their district.

12
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110316/haryana.htm
13
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/122269.php
Mr. rvind Kumar, The collector of Hyderabad district [2004-2006]has
illustrated the power of the ct. Hyderabad had the lowest child sex
ratio (0-6 years) in ndhra Pradesh. fter taking over in ,2004 he
tracked down all 389 diagnostic clinics in the city and took action. 361
ultrasound scan centres were issued notices for non- compliance with
the PNDT ct. Licenses of 91 centres were cancelled. 83 machines
were seized and 71 released after an undertaking and fine. Three
suppliers were prosecuted for supplying machines to clinics with no
registration licenses 14

Conclusion:

á The son- preference, due to customary reasons and fear of dowry


is the main reason for female infanticide in India.
á There is a need to sensitize general people, police, medical staff,
and judiciary for effective implementation of PNDP act.

á There is need for vigilant district administration to check the


diagnostic centre·s and their fraudulent practices.
á There should be awareness programs against infanticide in rural
areas as, there are several instances, which were reported in
media, where child killed or aborted.

á There are several instances in many, where bride groom are


enable to find brides, because of sex-imbalances in the
population.

bout the author:

Malkangiri Ravi Kumar

dvocate& Legal Consultant,

.P High Court, Hyderabad

14
http://www.unicef.org/india/media_3285.htm; http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?230450

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