Female Foeticide in India: Existing Laws v/s. Need of the Hour
- Shivani Upadhyay, UPES, Dehradun
- September 25, 2020
Content :
In India, sons are preferred over daughters because they are believed to be physically and mentally stronger, are the ones to uphold and carry on the family name, family business and will keep up with the family legacy. However, a civilization without women is impossible. A woman is an important part of the basic unit of the society. She is responsible for bringing a life into her family and that life can be of any gender. This means that male existence is not possible without female existence. But still, in today’s households, husband has greater power and a greater status that the wife. Female foeticide is the most common practice to eliminate a girl child from entering into the family. It is a process of finding out the sex of the foetus and then terminating it if it is a girl. Although, this practice is illegal but it is being carried on from time immemorial and has now become a culture in various families. The aim of this article is to analyse the already existing provisions of law on female foeticide and find loopholes in it. Even after having stringent laws and severe punishments, skewed gender ration still remains to be a big problem and hundreds of female foetuses are being killed every day. Moreover, the article will conclude by suggesting other ideas on how the practice of female foeticide can be controlled and curbed.
