Finally! An Answer to the Girl Child’s Endurance19 November 2010 by Prof. (Dr.) Ghanshyam Singh Professor of Law & Registrar, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
and Ketan Makhija (Student NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad)
The Womb says, “It is lonely and quiet here… Dear Mother, the anaesthetist is getting ready to give you the blessed relief of oblivion. Before you go away, pause for a moment and say goodbye, mother. My own mother, may love bless you and care for you always…. Yes, I am now ready for my back to infinity…. My mother, may you forgive yourself for not knowing what you have destroyed.”
INTRODUCTION: FIRST BLOW TO SEX SELECTION1“DUE to the illegal acts of persons like the convicts, the sex ratio is declining day by day in the country… The day is not far when there would be no girl child around…”
This grim warning was issued, by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Faridabad on March 28 while sentencing two persons to two years’ rigorous imprisonment each for violating the Pre-Conception Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prevention of Sex Determination) Act, 1994 (the PNDT Act henceforth). This is the first conviction since the inception of the PNDT Act.
The conviction comes as a morale-booster for those who have been crying out against the decline in the numbers of girl children. For long, it has been felt that those sections of the medical community that peddle sex-selective technologies with impunity should be brought to book.
Balbir Singh Dahiya, retired Civil Surgeon and former Director of Health Services, Haryana, who initiated the complaint in 1997, is, however, not very happy. The reason is the delay in the course of justice. Said Dahiya:
“It is a community that is already aware. Do they not know that it is criminal to do sex selection and then abort the female foetus? They (the providers) have tremendous clout and that is one reason why difficulties arise in enforcing the Act.”
While Census 2001 showed a marginal improvement in the adult sex ratio with 933 females per 1,000 males as against 927 in 1991, the child sex ratio (CSR) in the age group of 0-6, declined from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001. Haryana and Punjab, two of the more economically prosperous States have CSRs that are among the lowest in the country. In 14 districts nation-wide, most of them concentrated in Punjab and Haryana, the CSR is less than 800. Most of the high-CSR regions lie in the tribal and north-eastern States. The PNDT Act regulates but does not deny the use of pre-natal diagnostic techniques, including ultrasonography, to detect genetic abnormalities or other sex-linked disorders in a foetus. The problem, therefore, does not lie with the Act but its implementation.
THE PRE-CONCEPTION PRE-NATAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES (PREVENTION OF SEX DETERMINATION) ACT, 1994
The Appropriate Authorities have the powers to:
According to an informed source in the Ministry, in the majority of States it was found that the person seeking the illegal service and the service provider were both in agreement to defeat and circumvent the provisions of the law.2 The general experience was that wherever clinics offering this test had been sealed, owing to lack of follow-up action by the State agencies the majority of them were found to have resumed their operations.
Given the dismal CSR in the country, and the Supreme Court directive of 2003 to State governments to enforce the law banning the use of sex determination technologies, the Ministry set up a National Inspection and Monitoring Committee (NIMC) in October last. The NIMC conducted raids in some of the districts in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Gujarat. In April, it conducted raids on three clinics in Delhi. In its reports sent to the Chief Secretaries of the respective States, the committee observed that the Authorities had failed to monitor or supervise the registered clinics.
THE PROGRESS OF SEX RATIOAn important dimension of inquiry into changes in the relative pattern of birth and survival of male versus female children in India has been comparatively neglected, mainly due to lack of data: Indian authorities do not routinely publish data on sex ratios among births reported in the Census or Sample Registration. A few regional studies suggest that cohort sex ratios at birth are anomalously masculine in some parts of the country, particularly in the North. Therefore, it is not clear whether parents in India as in East Asia are substituting pre-natal for post-natal discrimination against girl children, or whether bias against females is lessening overtime. One all-India study has examined changes in juvenile sex ratios (ages 0-4) between 1981 and 1991, alongside trends in mortality sex ratios and fertility rates, and concluded that during, fertility decline in India, parents are not substituting prenatal for post-natal discrimination against girls, but are adding these two strategies. Male bias thus appears to be intensifying.
Table 13
Sex ratio in India 1901-2001
Census yearSex ratio (females per 1000 males)
1901972
1911964
1921955
1931950
1941945
1951946
1961941
1971930
1981934
1991927
2001933
The child sex ratio (CSR) in India has been indicating a negative trend towards girl children for decades now. The sharp decline in CSR from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001 has been brought forth by the 2001 census. It was an avowed expression of the devalued, vulnerable, oppressed status of women, with even the female foetuses not spared. Fall in child sex ratio in some states mainly points towards rampant practice of female foeticide along with certain amount of infanticide as elsewhere.[4] In India, juvenile sex ratios, (ages 0 to 4 or 0 to 9), largely shaped by child mortality sex differentials, indicate anomalous masculinity. That is, counter to the global norm of sex ratios at young ages being moderately masculine and mortality sex differentials favouring females, in many parts of India, juvenile sex ratios are highly masculine and female infants and children have higher death rates than males, a phenomenon termed ‘excess female child mortality’.
Table 2[5]
Sex ratios over time (Females per 1000 males)
1971198119912001
Total population931935927933
Population aged 0-6 years964962945927Table 3[6]
Child sex ratio, 1961-2001 (Girls per 1000 boys aged 0-6)
Census yearIndiaKarnataka
1961976987
1971964978
1981962975
1991945960
2001927949
Female foeticide and infanticide are a manifestation of gender bias. There is a common saying that ‘bringing up a girl is like watering the neighbour’s plants.’Sons are considered an asset while daughters are treated as a liability. A son under patriarchal culture is favoured, for he is viewed as the saviour of the family, the carrier of the lineage, the customary performer of the last rites, the inheritor of wealth if any, etc while the daughter is viewed as a financial burden what with dowry and marriage expenses and a security problem as violence on her abounds.
A number of doctors and nursing homes have availed both this rush to detect the gender of the foetus and then to destroy it if it is female, to quickly pile up wealth. Women who are often more victims than willing participants in the crime cannot speak about it. Men/families who encourage or coerce the women into it remain behind the screen. Doctors who abet the crime hush up the whole matter. Thus hardly any statistics is available regarding the actual number and extent of female foeticide increasingly occurring in this country. Incidence of Female infanticide also far exceeds the available data.[7]
Table 4[8]
Child Sex Ratio (0-6 years), India and major states
Territory19912001Decline/Increase of CSR 2001 Over CSR 1991
India945927
Andhra Pradesh975964-11
Assam975964-11
Bihar953938-15
Chattisgarh984975-9
Gujarat928878-50
Haryana879820-59
Jharkhand979966-13
Karnataka960949-11
Kerala958963+5
Madhya Pradesh941929-12
Orissa967950-17
Punjab875793-82
Rajastan916909-7
Tamil Nadu948939-9
Uttar Pradesh927916-11
West Bengal967963-4
THE PREVALENCE IN THE STATESWhere women are honoured, the Gods are pleased, and where they are not, all sacred rites are fruitless ~ Manusmriti
And yet thousands of female foetuses are massacred every month under the most sophisticated pre-natal diagnostic techniques. What’s ironical is that sex determination facilities have reached those villages of Punjab, UP and Gujarat where even the basic facility of potable water has not.[9]
1. SEX RATIO
Substantial variations are seen across states; such variations have virtually nothing to do with per capita income or degree of development. The lowest sex ratio is to be found in Delhi, which has the highest per capita income of all states, and is the most urbanised, and among the most developed of all states. The agriculturally developed and high per capita income states of Punjab and Haryana are next in terms of low sex ratio; in fact, in Punjab, the figure drops to an appalling 793 girls per 100 boys in the age group 0-6 years.
Figure 1.[10]
Top 10 Districts In Terms Of CSR In 2001
2. INFANT MORTALITY RATE
While infant mortality rates have declined over time, evidence suggests that the rate of decline has decelerated over the 1990s. Some states have very high female IMRs, ranging from 96.9 per thousand in Orissa to 81.4 per thousand in Haryana in 1998-99. The female IMR in Madhya Pradesh in that year was as high as 101.5 per thousand. The IMR in West Bengal was lower than the national average. But what is particularly disturbing is that in the recent past, there is evidence of rising IMRs in several states, which reverses the long run trend of decline evident across India since Independence.
3. CHILD MORTALITY RATE
Death rates during the first five years of life also show very significant gender differentials. In 1998-99, the national average Child Mortality Rate for rural boys was 27.9, while that for rural girls was one and a half times higher at 41.7. The urban gender differential was somewhat less: the urban CMR for boys was 14.6 while that for girls was 19.7.
SOCIO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS BEHIND THE MORBID KILLINGSLiving conditions of women in general and young girls in particular have deteriorated over time. Women have a lowered status in the family and society. Ultimately women who are the producers and creators of much value including human beings are seen as and made to see themselves as a worthless burden, a use and throw commodity under the rule of patriarchy. Consequently an unfair, illogical and unreasonable demand for male offsprings has also ensued. Social pressures, fear of continued harassment by the husband and inlaws, lack of selfworth, frustration at the future that awaits a girl child in general which is marked by domestic and sexual violence have all led to the quick elimination of the girl child right at the foetal or infantile stage.
Table 4[11]
Infant mortality rate (IMR) and age specific death rate (ASDR) in the age group of 0-4 and 5-9 by gender in India for the year 1998.
YearIMRASDR (0-4)ASDR (5-9)
MFMFMF
199870732124.12.12.4
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES: DISASTER DEBACLEAll reproductive technology[12] has been basically market-oriented, highly capitalistic and patriarchal enterprises ostensibly in the service of women and is out rightly exploiting them. Woman’s rights over her reproductive health are still under debate and lacks recognition in our country. Being a prey to family, social and cultural pressures they yield subjecting themselves to painful procedures, traumatic experiences, even to be the often-unwilling accomplices of the murder of their female foetuses and infants.
In many countries, modern techniques of ultrasound scans and inutero sex testing basically to make pregnancy safer are ironically abused to involve added risks through female foeticide. The sex determination techniques[13] arrived in India primarily for the purpose of determining genetic abnormalities. But the strong patriarchal environment combined with the medical industry’s search for newer pastures to profit led it in no time to abuse it to determine the sex of the foetus and thereafter destroy it, if it is a female.
The pre-natal diagnostic techniques expose women to serious health risks and complications. There is an increased risk of abortion or congenital malformation in the foetus. There are serious adverse effects on the reproductive organs due to intrusive procedures. Haemorrhage, chronic infections and inflammation, hormonal problems, menstrual disorders and tumours to say the least are not uncommon. For instance amniocentesis[14], which is commonly used, is normally carried out in the 16th week of pregnancy, apart from other complications it could pose there is an inherent risk in carrying out the abortion after this period. And ultrasound which happens to be the most widely misused technique at present, [even as it is known to cause problems in nerve conduction] for it is easier and relatively less expensive can help diagnose the sex of the foetus only after 26-28 weeks of pregnancy.
Apart from this, such selective destruction of female foetus has grave social ramifications. It leads to serious demographic imbalance affecting the health and life of society as a whole. The growing decline in male-female ratio will also result in more and more atrocities against women in the form of increased violence, rape, prostitution, oppression, and suppression.
According to one estimate, between 1978-82 nearly 78,000 foetuses were aborted in the country after sex determination. Between 1986-87 30,000 to 50,000 female foetuses were supposedly aborted. Between 1982-92 the number of clinics for sex determination grew many fold. Between 87-88 nearly 13,000 PND tests were estimated to have been conducted in 7 Delhi clinics alone. Recent statistics would definitely show an enormous increase in all statistics in a number of clinics, in number of such tests conducted, and numbers of girls evacuated, not withstanding so called laws passed. The ever declining child sex ratio between 1961 -2001 stands a testimony to this fact.[15]
There are numerous arguments offered by the promoters of sex-determination and considered acceptable by their clients. Some of them are that it is helpful in controlling overpopulation and attaining the family planning targets and hence valid, that it helps the woman to avoid unwanted pregnancies in the search after a son, that it helps assure the “quality” of the child etc. And convolutedly the most vigorous argument revolves around the reproductive rights of women and her ‘choice’ in the matter. Here one should also be aware of the danger in the argument against sex determination that goes to question and criticize the very right to abort by women which is mainly voiced by the anti-abortionist fundamentalist right wing and picked up by others. The anti-women substance in both should be clearly addressed, while taking the right steps to counter the commercial interests in the foeticide racket.
The only difference between yesteryears and today being that scientific developments have transferred elimination of the girl child from a born to an unborn stage.
The medical community should explode myths like ‘women’s purity’ and ‘blaming women for begetting daughters’ and spread awareness on these issues. But for many, it is easier and financially rewarding to offer ‘sex selection’ rather than undertaking the difficult path of education people. What were once, considered to be the very ‘temples’ of modern civilization, are being perceived by many as its ‘tombs.’ The emergence of NRTs has added yet another important dimension to this sharpening conflict. So far, medical technology, especially reproductive technology needed no justification. Its ‘benevolent’ nature was taken for granted. However, in the countries of their genesis, the advent of NRTs triggered on a chain of debates within the outside the medical community.
Some believe that the advent of NRTs would bring about the restructuring of society on lines of a ‘reproductive brothel model’ in which women can sell reproductive capacities the same way old time prostitutes sold sexual ones. The impact of these technologies would be felt the most in third world countries like India where these technologies are most likely to be used, abused or misused. The worst victims would he women who become the targets of these technologies.
THE ADMINISTRATIVE STANCEOther laws that existed prior to the PNDT Act, 1994 pertaining to the issue. The relevant sections from Sec. 312 to Sec. 316 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which hold the practice of sex determination by Amniocentesis followed by abortion in case of female child as not only illegal but a criminal offence, punishable with imprisonment and fine. Also in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, all abortions carried out not only require the consent of women and any abortion after 20 weeks is illegal. There are other conditions such as risk to the life of pregnant women, injury to her physical or mental well-being, substantial risk to the physical or mental well-being of the child etc. and to allow an abortion by registered Gynaecologists and Obstetricians.[16] But as these Acts did not suffice to regulate the use of Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques leading to the PNDT Act, 1994. But, this new law, only barks and does not bite. It is only symbolic and serves as an eyewash. It does not address the problem of sex determination in a comprehensive way but only superficially.
The President gave his assent to the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Bill, 2002. The Bill was passed during the Winter Session of Parliament. The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Act, 2003, provides for a total ban on the pre-conception sex selection techniques and the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex-selective abortions and provision of the regulation of such abortions. It also seeks to uphold medical ethics and initiate the process of regulation of medical technology in the interest of society as the present practices and techniques are considered discriminatory to the female sex and not conducive to the dignity of the woman.[17]
STEPS TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT TO SAVE THE GIRL CHILD“India’s legal framework stipulates equal rights for all, regardless of gender.” ~ Anonymous
THE ROLE OF THE JUDICIARY“Legal action can only work when there is gender justice in society. Let Nature decide the sex of the foetus. The ‘right to gender selection’ does not exist.” ~ Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has been affording directives time and again to the Government and to the citizens. Although; in the past on many junctures the Courts granted adverse and unsympathetic verdicts towards women. The Judiciary’s patriarchal attitude only helped it to use the law against the women. For instance in Satya v. Sriram,[22] the Court held that, “aborting a foetus without the consent of the husband amounts to cruelty and therefore the grounds for divorce under Hindu Marriage Act.” It even observed that there was a need to protect the right of the father to enjoy the spiritual benefit of having a son.[23]
However, on June 14, 2005 in Mumbai; In a landmark judgement, the Bombay High Court on Monday categorically dismissed a criminal writ petition filed by a couple as they sought the right to choose their child’s gender. The couple therefore claimed that the ban of sex selection under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 2003, was an infringement on their reproductive rights. It was argued by the Petitioners that Article 21 of the Constitution—which protects the right to life and personal liberty—sex-selection techniques should be “regulated but not annihilated.” But the bench said, “The right to personal liberty cannot encompass the right to select the sex of a child that is yet to be born.”
CONCLUSION“The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.” ~ Mother Teresa
The problem with our society is that it keeps finding excuses to justify its faults. Our problem lies in the fact that we don’t look for solutions. Painfully indifferent as we are, we are not bothered if the spate of abortions set off by SD tests gets further aggravated. It little matters to us that over 600 maternal deaths are reported after every one lakh births in our country. We are also not concerned if maternal mortality rate here happens to be the second highest in the world. We are not moved if an average 60 women die per 1000 abortions here. Some are even smart enough to reason that scarcity will enhance women’s value. It would probably, had we been discussing a market trend. But we are not. We happen to be talking about a race, which is the harbinger of humanity. Today we can’t imagine the psychological impact of female foeticide on young minds. After convincing them of the worthlessness of being a woman, how are we to teach them equality of sexes? Snuffing out a life just because it happens to be that of a female is against the norms of human decency. It’s a reflection of baser motives. Who knows in this mad pursuit we might just be risking our future. How would the world be when the one who engenders it ceases to be? The enormity of this question, one hopes, tickles our minds. Women’s liberation? Very well. But what next? The issues raised regarding new reproductive technologies were frightening. The fears expressed related to whether women would now become an endangered species. Can one class of women buy their reproductive freedom by hiring out another woman’s body? Are we heading towards a commercialisation leading to the most blatant slavery?
The two major aspects were: (a) Whether technology can be neutral. Who defines use and misuse of technology? (b) Women’s capacity to bear children has been the root of her oppression. The current development of NRTs is not going to liberate women from this, but instead cause a greater oppression of women especially in the third world.
When we talk about being anti-amniocentesis, we are told that we are anti-science and anti-development. Therefore, we have to re-define what we mean by development in science, development of technology, what is use and misuse? Who controls technology? Is technology without control, ever neutral?
Muhammad Ali had once quoted; “Children make you want to start life over.” We do not celebrate our children (please do not confuse celebrating the birthday of a child with celebrating the child). The fact that one is blessed with a child, that one can afford to have a child, educate the child and give love and much more to the child is itself a cause for celebration.
Denial to a girl child of her right to live is one of the heinous violations of the right to life. It has, however, been reported that the moral guilt attached to elimination of the girl child after she is born is not felt equally if the child is eliminated while still in the womb. The decline in the child sex ratio is not a problem of numbers alone. The very status of women, and the gains that have been made in this regard over the years, are at stake. The likelihood is that with fewer women in society, violence against women in all forms would go up. This atmosphere of insecurity would lead women to confine within the four walls of their home. This is not the only manifestation of the threat of serious disruption in the social fabric. If this decline is not checked the delicate equilibrium of nature can be permanently destroyed. The issue of protecting and honouring the girl child thus is one that needs to be addressed in all forums.
At the end of the day one would like to wrap up in the words of Shri Rabindranath Tagore, “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.”
[1] “It dates back to 25th of June 2001 a news item had appeared in the Indian Express dated 25-06-01 with heading “Sex Determination of female foeticide at a premium” in Faridabad, which was received by the then Civil Surgeon Dr. B.S. Dahiya on 26th June from Secretary, Deptt. of Family Welfare, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India Mr. A.R. Nanda.[ The Civil Surgeon, Faridabad was asked to make an inquiry and report who was detecting sex of foetus of pregnant women and selective female foeticide which was illegal as per the above news item, at a premium than a normal ultrasonography.] The task force under direct supervision in the span of two weeks investigated and came to conclusion that one Medical Officer was behind the story and a criminal case/ complaint was filed in the court under the PNDT Act for disclosing sex determination…” Read complete article ‘Curbing-Menace Of Female Foeticide – An Endurance – In Haryana: A Success Story’; available at [email protected] (last visited on May 2, 2006)
[2] A total of 383 violations had come to light until now with non-registration topping the list of offences. Thirty-seven instances were found where the sex of the foetus had been communicated and 28 instances of advertisements about sex selection had been noted.
[3] If one studies this table carefully, one sees how the female population has steadily declined over the century and how so-called independence has not brought in any difference. What with all advancement in technology and communication how can the fall be explained except by rampant exploitation and oppression at the behest of a reactionary social system worst governance. In a population of 102 crores even a 1% decline means lakhs of lives unduly lost. Statistics source: Census of India 2001
[4] If one takes a closer look at the child sex ratio in different states it becomes apparent that large declines between 1991-2001 have occurred mainly in Punjab, (from 875 in 1991 to 793 in 2001 in 0-6 age group, the worst record in India) Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharhastra, Chandhigarh and Delhi, all of which are relatively well developed.
[5] Sources: 1. Women in India, A Statistical Profile, GOI, MHRD, DWCD; 2. Census of India 2001, Provisional Population Totals.
[6] A reflection of the degraded status of women in society; female Foeticide amounts to the elimination of the girl child right at the foetal stage after determining the sex through varied diagnostic methods easily available in any of the unscrupulous genetic clinics and so called counselling centres, which have mushroomed under varied names in cities and towns. It is mainly the middle class and elite sections here which resort to this practice owing to strong patriarchal notions, etc. In poor households in rural and urban areas it is primarily poverty coupled with patriarchy that drives them towards female infanticide, which amounts to the killing of the child soon after it is born through varied crude means.
[7] Female infanticide was underlined as the most heinous crime against women in India during the Beijing Conference. Poor rural women were held as the main culprits. It was the highlight of all pep talk on women by the politicians who did not care to go into the fundamental reasons behind such episodes. Not much was said about female foeticide either, that was a much more booming business entailing large profits and spreading like an epidemic.
[8] Source: Census of India 2001, series 1, paper-1
[9] The use of these techniques thus grew widespread not only in towns, but also among, rural areas with access to a road or transport system to the nearest town. Newspaper reports describe mobile sex selection clinics, offering, ultrasound detection and immediate abortion if the foetus is female, in smaller towns of Haryana state in the mid- 1980’s. The clientele included farmers who had come from villages half-an-hour away by road. Remote districts that lacked basic amenities such as drinking water or electricity have been reported to have sex determination clinics; where refrigeration and cold chain facilities for vaccinations are not available but amniotic fluid samples are sent in ice packs to towns for testing
[10] Source: Annual Report on Implementation of the PC & PNDT Act 2005, PNDT Division, Ministry of Health and family Welfare, Government of India.
[11] Child Mortality Rate (CMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Child Sex Ratio (CSR) have come to speak voluminously on the crime. The decline in CSR should also be attributed to IMR, and CMR, which are higher when it comes to girl children owing to gross neglect in terms of basic food and health care. The role of sexual violence on girl children cannot be overlooked either.
[12] New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs); Sex Selection Techniques (SSTs); Sex Determination Techniques (SDTs); Sex Pre-Selection Techniques (SPSTs); Non-Coital Reproductive Techniques or ‘test tube baby techniques’; Long acting Contraceptive Techniques; Hymenoplasty; Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (PDTs); Sonography
While sonography represents all useful technique, which is used indiscriminately or is misused, hymenoplasty is an example of a technique, which is totally unjustified and unwarranted. It involves the stitching up of ruptured hymen, the delicate membrane that covers the vagina. Hymen rupture is a natural process, which occurs during adolescence and is brought about even by natural movements or exercise. However, the patriarchal value system, which puts a premium over ‘virginals,’ perceives hymen rupture as the ‘loss of purity’ of the woman.
[13] The pre-natal diagnostic techniques involve the use of technologies such as ultrasonography, amniocentesis, chorion villi biopsy, foetoscopy, maternal serum analysis, etc. These are supposedly meant to facilitate the detection of foetal abnormalities and subsequent therapeutic interventions. All methods employed for sex determination are highly intrusive, risky, quite expensive and socially destructive. Not even 1% of them are utilised for the purpose they are meant which is to diagnose foetal health except ultra sonogram, which is extensively used for all, and sundry. The other pre-pregnancy sex selection methods commonly used are X-Y separation of sperms, embryo biopsy and sex selection through sprays. Pre-conception sex selection methods have currently invaded the market and no law applies to them. None of these are said to be safe and aid as much in causing gender and social disparity apart from causing havoc on woman’s health. Often there is no scientific validity either.
[14] Research groups working in Jerussalem, Copenhegan, New York and Minneapolis independently discovered amniocentesis in 1954. It is a post implantation method used to determine sex of an offspring, leading to subsequent abortion of any offspring of the unwanted sex.
[15] Refer Table 3
[16] Amniocentesis is also an offence under the MTP Act as it is generally carried out in the 16th week of pregnancy. After which the entire process, culture and tests etc. normally takes another 6 to 8 weeks based on which the decision to abort if it is a female is made. It thereby violates the MTP Act, which stipulates that abortions have to be carried out within 20 weeks.
[17] The Act provides for stringent penalties against the violators, like imprisonment up to three years and fine up to Rs. 10,000/-; for subsequent offences imprisonment up to five years and fine up to Rs. 50,000/- to Rs. 1 Lakh and if charges of violation of the Act is proved the license of the Registered Medical Practitioner will be suspended.
[18] Cell to Fight Sex Selection. Source: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/19/stories/2006041903571300.htm
[19] See also “Beti Bachao Campaign” and “Beti Bachao Diwas” held in Bhopal in August 2005 to check female foetus killing.
[20] Save the Girl Child. Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=480
[21] ‘Stiffer penalty for sex selection: NCW’; The Hindu; July 19, 2005. Source: http://infochangeindia.org/ChildrenTtop.jsp?section_
[22] Citation Unavailable
[23] Also see V. Krishnan v. G. Rajan (1994) 1 Mad LW (Cri) 16 But See D. Rajeswari v. State of Tamil Nadu & others 1996 CrLJ 3795; Karupayee v. State (citation unavailable)
and Ketan Makhija (Student NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad)
The Womb says, “It is lonely and quiet here… Dear Mother, the anaesthetist is getting ready to give you the blessed relief of oblivion. Before you go away, pause for a moment and say goodbye, mother. My own mother, may love bless you and care for you always…. Yes, I am now ready for my back to infinity…. My mother, may you forgive yourself for not knowing what you have destroyed.”
INTRODUCTION: FIRST BLOW TO SEX SELECTION1“DUE to the illegal acts of persons like the convicts, the sex ratio is declining day by day in the country… The day is not far when there would be no girl child around…”
This grim warning was issued, by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Faridabad on March 28 while sentencing two persons to two years’ rigorous imprisonment each for violating the Pre-Conception Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prevention of Sex Determination) Act, 1994 (the PNDT Act henceforth). This is the first conviction since the inception of the PNDT Act.
The conviction comes as a morale-booster for those who have been crying out against the decline in the numbers of girl children. For long, it has been felt that those sections of the medical community that peddle sex-selective technologies with impunity should be brought to book.
Balbir Singh Dahiya, retired Civil Surgeon and former Director of Health Services, Haryana, who initiated the complaint in 1997, is, however, not very happy. The reason is the delay in the course of justice. Said Dahiya:
“It is a community that is already aware. Do they not know that it is criminal to do sex selection and then abort the female foetus? They (the providers) have tremendous clout and that is one reason why difficulties arise in enforcing the Act.”
While Census 2001 showed a marginal improvement in the adult sex ratio with 933 females per 1,000 males as against 927 in 1991, the child sex ratio (CSR) in the age group of 0-6, declined from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001. Haryana and Punjab, two of the more economically prosperous States have CSRs that are among the lowest in the country. In 14 districts nation-wide, most of them concentrated in Punjab and Haryana, the CSR is less than 800. Most of the high-CSR regions lie in the tribal and north-eastern States. The PNDT Act regulates but does not deny the use of pre-natal diagnostic techniques, including ultrasonography, to detect genetic abnormalities or other sex-linked disorders in a foetus. The problem, therefore, does not lie with the Act but its implementation.
THE PRE-CONCEPTION PRE-NATAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES (PREVENTION OF SEX DETERMINATION) ACT, 1994
- Section 3A of the PNDT Act says: “No person, including a specialist or a team of specialists in the field of infertility, shall conduct or cause to be conducted or aid in conducting by himself or by any other person, sex selection on a woman or a man or on both or on any tissue, embryo, conceptus, fluid or gametes derived from either or both of them.”
- Section 3B bars the sale of any ultrasound machine to any genetic counseling centre, genetic laboratory or any other person not registered in the act.
The Appropriate Authorities have the powers to:
- Summon any person who may be in possession of information relating to violation of the provisions of the Act.
- Issue search warrants for any place suspected to be practising sex selection techniques or pre-natal sex determination and seize and seal any objects used for the purpose.
- Conduct independent investigations on a complaint against a breach of the provisions of the Act; take the complaints to the court; and initiate suo motu and appropriate legal action against the use of any sex selection technique.
- Most of the restrictions pertain to Government facilities. Private laboratories and clinics are not banned from carrying out sex determination tests: they are only required to be registered.
- Second, the government can overrule the decisions of the body set up to monitor facilities, which is empowered to suspend or cancel the licenses of offending clinics or laboratories. The Government can also exempt any facility from the Act. While in Maharashtra the monitoring committee included representatives of NGO’S, the State Directorate of Medical Education and Research, and the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Central Government Act appointed only two State employees as regulators. Given the dubious record of the State as a monitoring body, the act is thus considerably weakened. Furthermore, an ordinary citizen cannot directly move the courts, but must approach the monitoring body, which can refuse to release any records if it is deemed in the public interest to keep them sealed.
- Moreover, these regulations cover ultrasonography facilities to a much lesser extent, and this technique is also being widely used for sex determination. The possibility that newer technologies will be developed to determine the sex of the foetus has not been allowed for. The result of such partial regulation is that sex determination and selection facilities have privatized, commercialized, and mushroomed. Doctors indicated that despite bans, they would continue to communicate the sex of the foetus to parents who wanted to know, verbally rather in writing, and would hike the fees of the test to compensate for the legal risk. The bans did not have much impact, as sex determination facilities have continued to burgeon.
According to an informed source in the Ministry, in the majority of States it was found that the person seeking the illegal service and the service provider were both in agreement to defeat and circumvent the provisions of the law.2 The general experience was that wherever clinics offering this test had been sealed, owing to lack of follow-up action by the State agencies the majority of them were found to have resumed their operations.
Given the dismal CSR in the country, and the Supreme Court directive of 2003 to State governments to enforce the law banning the use of sex determination technologies, the Ministry set up a National Inspection and Monitoring Committee (NIMC) in October last. The NIMC conducted raids in some of the districts in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Gujarat. In April, it conducted raids on three clinics in Delhi. In its reports sent to the Chief Secretaries of the respective States, the committee observed that the Authorities had failed to monitor or supervise the registered clinics.
THE PROGRESS OF SEX RATIOAn important dimension of inquiry into changes in the relative pattern of birth and survival of male versus female children in India has been comparatively neglected, mainly due to lack of data: Indian authorities do not routinely publish data on sex ratios among births reported in the Census or Sample Registration. A few regional studies suggest that cohort sex ratios at birth are anomalously masculine in some parts of the country, particularly in the North. Therefore, it is not clear whether parents in India as in East Asia are substituting pre-natal for post-natal discrimination against girl children, or whether bias against females is lessening overtime. One all-India study has examined changes in juvenile sex ratios (ages 0-4) between 1981 and 1991, alongside trends in mortality sex ratios and fertility rates, and concluded that during, fertility decline in India, parents are not substituting prenatal for post-natal discrimination against girls, but are adding these two strategies. Male bias thus appears to be intensifying.
Table 13
Sex ratio in India 1901-2001
Census yearSex ratio (females per 1000 males)
1901972
1911964
1921955
1931950
1941945
1951946
1961941
1971930
1981934
1991927
2001933
The child sex ratio (CSR) in India has been indicating a negative trend towards girl children for decades now. The sharp decline in CSR from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001 has been brought forth by the 2001 census. It was an avowed expression of the devalued, vulnerable, oppressed status of women, with even the female foetuses not spared. Fall in child sex ratio in some states mainly points towards rampant practice of female foeticide along with certain amount of infanticide as elsewhere.[4] In India, juvenile sex ratios, (ages 0 to 4 or 0 to 9), largely shaped by child mortality sex differentials, indicate anomalous masculinity. That is, counter to the global norm of sex ratios at young ages being moderately masculine and mortality sex differentials favouring females, in many parts of India, juvenile sex ratios are highly masculine and female infants and children have higher death rates than males, a phenomenon termed ‘excess female child mortality’.
Table 2[5]
Sex ratios over time (Females per 1000 males)
1971198119912001
Total population931935927933
Population aged 0-6 years964962945927Table 3[6]
Child sex ratio, 1961-2001 (Girls per 1000 boys aged 0-6)
Census yearIndiaKarnataka
1961976987
1971964978
1981962975
1991945960
2001927949
Female foeticide and infanticide are a manifestation of gender bias. There is a common saying that ‘bringing up a girl is like watering the neighbour’s plants.’Sons are considered an asset while daughters are treated as a liability. A son under patriarchal culture is favoured, for he is viewed as the saviour of the family, the carrier of the lineage, the customary performer of the last rites, the inheritor of wealth if any, etc while the daughter is viewed as a financial burden what with dowry and marriage expenses and a security problem as violence on her abounds.
A number of doctors and nursing homes have availed both this rush to detect the gender of the foetus and then to destroy it if it is female, to quickly pile up wealth. Women who are often more victims than willing participants in the crime cannot speak about it. Men/families who encourage or coerce the women into it remain behind the screen. Doctors who abet the crime hush up the whole matter. Thus hardly any statistics is available regarding the actual number and extent of female foeticide increasingly occurring in this country. Incidence of Female infanticide also far exceeds the available data.[7]
Table 4[8]
Child Sex Ratio (0-6 years), India and major states
Territory19912001Decline/Increase of CSR 2001 Over CSR 1991
India945927
Andhra Pradesh975964-11
Assam975964-11
Bihar953938-15
Chattisgarh984975-9
Gujarat928878-50
Haryana879820-59
Jharkhand979966-13
Karnataka960949-11
Kerala958963+5
Madhya Pradesh941929-12
Orissa967950-17
Punjab875793-82
Rajastan916909-7
Tamil Nadu948939-9
Uttar Pradesh927916-11
West Bengal967963-4
THE PREVALENCE IN THE STATESWhere women are honoured, the Gods are pleased, and where they are not, all sacred rites are fruitless ~ Manusmriti
And yet thousands of female foetuses are massacred every month under the most sophisticated pre-natal diagnostic techniques. What’s ironical is that sex determination facilities have reached those villages of Punjab, UP and Gujarat where even the basic facility of potable water has not.[9]
1. SEX RATIO
Substantial variations are seen across states; such variations have virtually nothing to do with per capita income or degree of development. The lowest sex ratio is to be found in Delhi, which has the highest per capita income of all states, and is the most urbanised, and among the most developed of all states. The agriculturally developed and high per capita income states of Punjab and Haryana are next in terms of low sex ratio; in fact, in Punjab, the figure drops to an appalling 793 girls per 100 boys in the age group 0-6 years.
Figure 1.[10]
Top 10 Districts In Terms Of CSR In 2001
2. INFANT MORTALITY RATE
While infant mortality rates have declined over time, evidence suggests that the rate of decline has decelerated over the 1990s. Some states have very high female IMRs, ranging from 96.9 per thousand in Orissa to 81.4 per thousand in Haryana in 1998-99. The female IMR in Madhya Pradesh in that year was as high as 101.5 per thousand. The IMR in West Bengal was lower than the national average. But what is particularly disturbing is that in the recent past, there is evidence of rising IMRs in several states, which reverses the long run trend of decline evident across India since Independence.
3. CHILD MORTALITY RATE
Death rates during the first five years of life also show very significant gender differentials. In 1998-99, the national average Child Mortality Rate for rural boys was 27.9, while that for rural girls was one and a half times higher at 41.7. The urban gender differential was somewhat less: the urban CMR for boys was 14.6 while that for girls was 19.7.
SOCIO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS BEHIND THE MORBID KILLINGSLiving conditions of women in general and young girls in particular have deteriorated over time. Women have a lowered status in the family and society. Ultimately women who are the producers and creators of much value including human beings are seen as and made to see themselves as a worthless burden, a use and throw commodity under the rule of patriarchy. Consequently an unfair, illogical and unreasonable demand for male offsprings has also ensued. Social pressures, fear of continued harassment by the husband and inlaws, lack of selfworth, frustration at the future that awaits a girl child in general which is marked by domestic and sexual violence have all led to the quick elimination of the girl child right at the foetal or infantile stage.
Table 4[11]
Infant mortality rate (IMR) and age specific death rate (ASDR) in the age group of 0-4 and 5-9 by gender in India for the year 1998.
YearIMRASDR (0-4)ASDR (5-9)
MFMFMF
199870732124.12.12.4
- There is a larger political dynamics behind this phenomenon. There are economic constraints involved. There are also social pressures and cultural norms which are pervasive, and which operate within this larger political and economic framework whatever be its political, economic, social or cultural, or all combined which lead to the erosion of the girl children born or unborn, patriarchy is the common refrain that precipitates it. Whether the CMR is low in semi-feudal Rajastan or in ‘agriculturally advanced’ Punjab and Haryana or in relatively ‘industrially advanced’ Gujarat or Maharashtra, as statistics indicate patriarchy holds sway, rearing its ugly head from both the backward and relatively developed platforms.
- To add to the woes does the government pursue the fierce population policy? A two-child norm is promoted through both coercive and persuasive measures in overt and covert forms. Small family is both a need and a must in the present cultural and economic milieu for a sizable section. And so if the couple intend to stop with one child it has to be a son, and should they limit it to two, it could be a son and a daughter, or two sons but cannot just be two daughters. Some even insist on the first born being a son only. Thus generally if the second child is also a girl the concerned woman is scoffed upon and should the third turn out to be one she is under threat. A female foetus or infant has a limited fixed quota. Beyond that it has no place in the womb or world. This is the unwritten statement behind the killings.
- Economic deprivation and poverty combined is one of the major reasons for growing female infanticide in India. Especially rural masses that have neither access to sophisticated tests or the money to afford such, wait until delivery to confirm the gender after which it is retained or rid of, depending on whether it is a boy or girl. Some of the common methods used to kill the new born is by feeding it the poisonous milk of Calotropis (erukkampal) or oleander shrub, or giving it a few grains of paddy which will induce vomiting, convulsions and subsequent death, or feeding it tobacco paste or pesticides, suffocating it to death with a wet towel or strangulating it with the umbilical cord, or just leaving it in open space in winter to die in cold, or dumping it in the dustbin. Such inhuman acts done with impunity shows the extent of despise towards females and the devalued status they have assumed. Even the midwife is unhappy because she is paid lesser if a girl is delivered and even amongst the rich the house goes into a celebration if a boy be born and mourning if it be a girl. When the sources are meager it is considered a burden and waste to nourish a girl. Dowry has also become a nightmare even amongst dalits and tribals as never before, causing them to push the girl child as a curse, quickly to its grave. Girl children who are allowed to survive are often the butt of abuses, utter neglect, undue ridicule and hard labour, which could rob them off their life. Horrible as it may sound flesh trade is the only area where a girl child fetches a higher rate and therefore sought after.
- Parallelly, capitalist development has brought with it a strong consumerist culture. A decrepit value system based on gross consumerism has emerged, which on the one hand encourages expensive and wasteful rituals and lifestyle within a patriarchal framework and on the other offers female foeticide as one solution in the quest of such “good life”. The blatant advertisements for sex selective foeticide that emerged in the 1980’s in urban Maharastra and Delhi were the explicit expressions of this consumerist value base. Thus while female infanticide FI is the dominant survival threat to baby girls in rural belts and amidst urban poor, Female Foeticide (FF) serves as the capitalist market strategy through which the desired sex composition is achieved by the urban elite and educated classes. Both are a product of patriarchy and an in equal, unjust socio-economic structure but while FI is often prodded by poverty, FF is promoted by profit motives.
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES: DISASTER DEBACLEAll reproductive technology[12] has been basically market-oriented, highly capitalistic and patriarchal enterprises ostensibly in the service of women and is out rightly exploiting them. Woman’s rights over her reproductive health are still under debate and lacks recognition in our country. Being a prey to family, social and cultural pressures they yield subjecting themselves to painful procedures, traumatic experiences, even to be the often-unwilling accomplices of the murder of their female foetuses and infants.
In many countries, modern techniques of ultrasound scans and inutero sex testing basically to make pregnancy safer are ironically abused to involve added risks through female foeticide. The sex determination techniques[13] arrived in India primarily for the purpose of determining genetic abnormalities. But the strong patriarchal environment combined with the medical industry’s search for newer pastures to profit led it in no time to abuse it to determine the sex of the foetus and thereafter destroy it, if it is a female.
The pre-natal diagnostic techniques expose women to serious health risks and complications. There is an increased risk of abortion or congenital malformation in the foetus. There are serious adverse effects on the reproductive organs due to intrusive procedures. Haemorrhage, chronic infections and inflammation, hormonal problems, menstrual disorders and tumours to say the least are not uncommon. For instance amniocentesis[14], which is commonly used, is normally carried out in the 16th week of pregnancy, apart from other complications it could pose there is an inherent risk in carrying out the abortion after this period. And ultrasound which happens to be the most widely misused technique at present, [even as it is known to cause problems in nerve conduction] for it is easier and relatively less expensive can help diagnose the sex of the foetus only after 26-28 weeks of pregnancy.
Apart from this, such selective destruction of female foetus has grave social ramifications. It leads to serious demographic imbalance affecting the health and life of society as a whole. The growing decline in male-female ratio will also result in more and more atrocities against women in the form of increased violence, rape, prostitution, oppression, and suppression.
According to one estimate, between 1978-82 nearly 78,000 foetuses were aborted in the country after sex determination. Between 1986-87 30,000 to 50,000 female foetuses were supposedly aborted. Between 1982-92 the number of clinics for sex determination grew many fold. Between 87-88 nearly 13,000 PND tests were estimated to have been conducted in 7 Delhi clinics alone. Recent statistics would definitely show an enormous increase in all statistics in a number of clinics, in number of such tests conducted, and numbers of girls evacuated, not withstanding so called laws passed. The ever declining child sex ratio between 1961 -2001 stands a testimony to this fact.[15]
There are numerous arguments offered by the promoters of sex-determination and considered acceptable by their clients. Some of them are that it is helpful in controlling overpopulation and attaining the family planning targets and hence valid, that it helps the woman to avoid unwanted pregnancies in the search after a son, that it helps assure the “quality” of the child etc. And convolutedly the most vigorous argument revolves around the reproductive rights of women and her ‘choice’ in the matter. Here one should also be aware of the danger in the argument against sex determination that goes to question and criticize the very right to abort by women which is mainly voiced by the anti-abortionist fundamentalist right wing and picked up by others. The anti-women substance in both should be clearly addressed, while taking the right steps to counter the commercial interests in the foeticide racket.
The only difference between yesteryears and today being that scientific developments have transferred elimination of the girl child from a born to an unborn stage.
The medical community should explode myths like ‘women’s purity’ and ‘blaming women for begetting daughters’ and spread awareness on these issues. But for many, it is easier and financially rewarding to offer ‘sex selection’ rather than undertaking the difficult path of education people. What were once, considered to be the very ‘temples’ of modern civilization, are being perceived by many as its ‘tombs.’ The emergence of NRTs has added yet another important dimension to this sharpening conflict. So far, medical technology, especially reproductive technology needed no justification. Its ‘benevolent’ nature was taken for granted. However, in the countries of their genesis, the advent of NRTs triggered on a chain of debates within the outside the medical community.
Some believe that the advent of NRTs would bring about the restructuring of society on lines of a ‘reproductive brothel model’ in which women can sell reproductive capacities the same way old time prostitutes sold sexual ones. The impact of these technologies would be felt the most in third world countries like India where these technologies are most likely to be used, abused or misused. The worst victims would he women who become the targets of these technologies.
THE ADMINISTRATIVE STANCEOther laws that existed prior to the PNDT Act, 1994 pertaining to the issue. The relevant sections from Sec. 312 to Sec. 316 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which hold the practice of sex determination by Amniocentesis followed by abortion in case of female child as not only illegal but a criminal offence, punishable with imprisonment and fine. Also in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, all abortions carried out not only require the consent of women and any abortion after 20 weeks is illegal. There are other conditions such as risk to the life of pregnant women, injury to her physical or mental well-being, substantial risk to the physical or mental well-being of the child etc. and to allow an abortion by registered Gynaecologists and Obstetricians.[16] But as these Acts did not suffice to regulate the use of Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques leading to the PNDT Act, 1994. But, this new law, only barks and does not bite. It is only symbolic and serves as an eyewash. It does not address the problem of sex determination in a comprehensive way but only superficially.
The President gave his assent to the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Bill, 2002. The Bill was passed during the Winter Session of Parliament. The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Act, 2003, provides for a total ban on the pre-conception sex selection techniques and the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex-selective abortions and provision of the regulation of such abortions. It also seeks to uphold medical ethics and initiate the process of regulation of medical technology in the interest of society as the present practices and techniques are considered discriminatory to the female sex and not conducive to the dignity of the woman.[17]
STEPS TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT TO SAVE THE GIRL CHILD“India’s legal framework stipulates equal rights for all, regardless of gender.” ~ Anonymous
- The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry is in the process of setting up a ‘National Support and Monitoring Cell’ to curb female foeticide. The cell will serve as a mechanism to help authorities apprehend those involved in carrying out or abetting female foeticide. The initiatives include meeting organisations working against sex selection, involvement of medical professionals, religious leaders to spread the message, requesting police training academies and schools to include the issue in their curriculum, telecasting of video spots on private satellite channels and Doordarshan, and involving elected representatives.[18]
- Workshops and seminars have been organized through voluntary organizations at State, regional, district and block levels to create awareness against this social evil.
- Cooperation has also been sought from religious leaders, as well as the medical fraternity to curb the practice.
- The Government has recently launched a ‘Save the Girl Child Campaign’[19]. One of its main objectives is to lessen the preference for a son by highlighting the achievements of young girls. The teenage tennis champion, Sanya Mirza, has been appointed as the first ambassador for this campaign.[20]
- The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) the health department of NMMC has cracked down on sonography centres in Navi Mumbai. The Corporation has chalked out an action plan which include massive media campaign against sex determination tests, surprise checks of sonography clinics; and moreover it has made it mandatory for all upcoming sonography centres to register with its health department.
- The NCW and women’s groups have also decided to work together to create awareness about sex-selective abortions through campaigns that will go through the 10 worst affected states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.[21]
- All sonography centres are required to register themselves with the appropriate authority-the medical officer of the particular ward. The registration certificate and the message that under no circumstances, sex of foetus will be disclosed, are mandatory to be displayed. Local civic bodies will now be held responsible if diagnostic centres engage in pre-natal sex determination.
THE ROLE OF THE JUDICIARY“Legal action can only work when there is gender justice in society. Let Nature decide the sex of the foetus. The ‘right to gender selection’ does not exist.” ~ Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has been affording directives time and again to the Government and to the citizens. Although; in the past on many junctures the Courts granted adverse and unsympathetic verdicts towards women. The Judiciary’s patriarchal attitude only helped it to use the law against the women. For instance in Satya v. Sriram,[22] the Court held that, “aborting a foetus without the consent of the husband amounts to cruelty and therefore the grounds for divorce under Hindu Marriage Act.” It even observed that there was a need to protect the right of the father to enjoy the spiritual benefit of having a son.[23]
However, on June 14, 2005 in Mumbai; In a landmark judgement, the Bombay High Court on Monday categorically dismissed a criminal writ petition filed by a couple as they sought the right to choose their child’s gender. The couple therefore claimed that the ban of sex selection under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 2003, was an infringement on their reproductive rights. It was argued by the Petitioners that Article 21 of the Constitution—which protects the right to life and personal liberty—sex-selection techniques should be “regulated but not annihilated.” But the bench said, “The right to personal liberty cannot encompass the right to select the sex of a child that is yet to be born.”
CONCLUSION“The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.” ~ Mother Teresa
The problem with our society is that it keeps finding excuses to justify its faults. Our problem lies in the fact that we don’t look for solutions. Painfully indifferent as we are, we are not bothered if the spate of abortions set off by SD tests gets further aggravated. It little matters to us that over 600 maternal deaths are reported after every one lakh births in our country. We are also not concerned if maternal mortality rate here happens to be the second highest in the world. We are not moved if an average 60 women die per 1000 abortions here. Some are even smart enough to reason that scarcity will enhance women’s value. It would probably, had we been discussing a market trend. But we are not. We happen to be talking about a race, which is the harbinger of humanity. Today we can’t imagine the psychological impact of female foeticide on young minds. After convincing them of the worthlessness of being a woman, how are we to teach them equality of sexes? Snuffing out a life just because it happens to be that of a female is against the norms of human decency. It’s a reflection of baser motives. Who knows in this mad pursuit we might just be risking our future. How would the world be when the one who engenders it ceases to be? The enormity of this question, one hopes, tickles our minds. Women’s liberation? Very well. But what next? The issues raised regarding new reproductive technologies were frightening. The fears expressed related to whether women would now become an endangered species. Can one class of women buy their reproductive freedom by hiring out another woman’s body? Are we heading towards a commercialisation leading to the most blatant slavery?
The two major aspects were: (a) Whether technology can be neutral. Who defines use and misuse of technology? (b) Women’s capacity to bear children has been the root of her oppression. The current development of NRTs is not going to liberate women from this, but instead cause a greater oppression of women especially in the third world.
When we talk about being anti-amniocentesis, we are told that we are anti-science and anti-development. Therefore, we have to re-define what we mean by development in science, development of technology, what is use and misuse? Who controls technology? Is technology without control, ever neutral?
Muhammad Ali had once quoted; “Children make you want to start life over.” We do not celebrate our children (please do not confuse celebrating the birthday of a child with celebrating the child). The fact that one is blessed with a child, that one can afford to have a child, educate the child and give love and much more to the child is itself a cause for celebration.
Denial to a girl child of her right to live is one of the heinous violations of the right to life. It has, however, been reported that the moral guilt attached to elimination of the girl child after she is born is not felt equally if the child is eliminated while still in the womb. The decline in the child sex ratio is not a problem of numbers alone. The very status of women, and the gains that have been made in this regard over the years, are at stake. The likelihood is that with fewer women in society, violence against women in all forms would go up. This atmosphere of insecurity would lead women to confine within the four walls of their home. This is not the only manifestation of the threat of serious disruption in the social fabric. If this decline is not checked the delicate equilibrium of nature can be permanently destroyed. The issue of protecting and honouring the girl child thus is one that needs to be addressed in all forums.
At the end of the day one would like to wrap up in the words of Shri Rabindranath Tagore, “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.”
[1] “It dates back to 25th of June 2001 a news item had appeared in the Indian Express dated 25-06-01 with heading “Sex Determination of female foeticide at a premium” in Faridabad, which was received by the then Civil Surgeon Dr. B.S. Dahiya on 26th June from Secretary, Deptt. of Family Welfare, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India Mr. A.R. Nanda.[ The Civil Surgeon, Faridabad was asked to make an inquiry and report who was detecting sex of foetus of pregnant women and selective female foeticide which was illegal as per the above news item, at a premium than a normal ultrasonography.] The task force under direct supervision in the span of two weeks investigated and came to conclusion that one Medical Officer was behind the story and a criminal case/ complaint was filed in the court under the PNDT Act for disclosing sex determination…” Read complete article ‘Curbing-Menace Of Female Foeticide – An Endurance – In Haryana: A Success Story’; available at [email protected] (last visited on May 2, 2006)
[2] A total of 383 violations had come to light until now with non-registration topping the list of offences. Thirty-seven instances were found where the sex of the foetus had been communicated and 28 instances of advertisements about sex selection had been noted.
[3] If one studies this table carefully, one sees how the female population has steadily declined over the century and how so-called independence has not brought in any difference. What with all advancement in technology and communication how can the fall be explained except by rampant exploitation and oppression at the behest of a reactionary social system worst governance. In a population of 102 crores even a 1% decline means lakhs of lives unduly lost. Statistics source: Census of India 2001
[4] If one takes a closer look at the child sex ratio in different states it becomes apparent that large declines between 1991-2001 have occurred mainly in Punjab, (from 875 in 1991 to 793 in 2001 in 0-6 age group, the worst record in India) Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharhastra, Chandhigarh and Delhi, all of which are relatively well developed.
[5] Sources: 1. Women in India, A Statistical Profile, GOI, MHRD, DWCD; 2. Census of India 2001, Provisional Population Totals.
[6] A reflection of the degraded status of women in society; female Foeticide amounts to the elimination of the girl child right at the foetal stage after determining the sex through varied diagnostic methods easily available in any of the unscrupulous genetic clinics and so called counselling centres, which have mushroomed under varied names in cities and towns. It is mainly the middle class and elite sections here which resort to this practice owing to strong patriarchal notions, etc. In poor households in rural and urban areas it is primarily poverty coupled with patriarchy that drives them towards female infanticide, which amounts to the killing of the child soon after it is born through varied crude means.
[7] Female infanticide was underlined as the most heinous crime against women in India during the Beijing Conference. Poor rural women were held as the main culprits. It was the highlight of all pep talk on women by the politicians who did not care to go into the fundamental reasons behind such episodes. Not much was said about female foeticide either, that was a much more booming business entailing large profits and spreading like an epidemic.
[8] Source: Census of India 2001, series 1, paper-1
[9] The use of these techniques thus grew widespread not only in towns, but also among, rural areas with access to a road or transport system to the nearest town. Newspaper reports describe mobile sex selection clinics, offering, ultrasound detection and immediate abortion if the foetus is female, in smaller towns of Haryana state in the mid- 1980’s. The clientele included farmers who had come from villages half-an-hour away by road. Remote districts that lacked basic amenities such as drinking water or electricity have been reported to have sex determination clinics; where refrigeration and cold chain facilities for vaccinations are not available but amniotic fluid samples are sent in ice packs to towns for testing
[10] Source: Annual Report on Implementation of the PC & PNDT Act 2005, PNDT Division, Ministry of Health and family Welfare, Government of India.
[11] Child Mortality Rate (CMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Child Sex Ratio (CSR) have come to speak voluminously on the crime. The decline in CSR should also be attributed to IMR, and CMR, which are higher when it comes to girl children owing to gross neglect in terms of basic food and health care. The role of sexual violence on girl children cannot be overlooked either.
[12] New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs); Sex Selection Techniques (SSTs); Sex Determination Techniques (SDTs); Sex Pre-Selection Techniques (SPSTs); Non-Coital Reproductive Techniques or ‘test tube baby techniques’; Long acting Contraceptive Techniques; Hymenoplasty; Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (PDTs); Sonography
While sonography represents all useful technique, which is used indiscriminately or is misused, hymenoplasty is an example of a technique, which is totally unjustified and unwarranted. It involves the stitching up of ruptured hymen, the delicate membrane that covers the vagina. Hymen rupture is a natural process, which occurs during adolescence and is brought about even by natural movements or exercise. However, the patriarchal value system, which puts a premium over ‘virginals,’ perceives hymen rupture as the ‘loss of purity’ of the woman.
[13] The pre-natal diagnostic techniques involve the use of technologies such as ultrasonography, amniocentesis, chorion villi biopsy, foetoscopy, maternal serum analysis, etc. These are supposedly meant to facilitate the detection of foetal abnormalities and subsequent therapeutic interventions. All methods employed for sex determination are highly intrusive, risky, quite expensive and socially destructive. Not even 1% of them are utilised for the purpose they are meant which is to diagnose foetal health except ultra sonogram, which is extensively used for all, and sundry. The other pre-pregnancy sex selection methods commonly used are X-Y separation of sperms, embryo biopsy and sex selection through sprays. Pre-conception sex selection methods have currently invaded the market and no law applies to them. None of these are said to be safe and aid as much in causing gender and social disparity apart from causing havoc on woman’s health. Often there is no scientific validity either.
[14] Research groups working in Jerussalem, Copenhegan, New York and Minneapolis independently discovered amniocentesis in 1954. It is a post implantation method used to determine sex of an offspring, leading to subsequent abortion of any offspring of the unwanted sex.
[15] Refer Table 3
[16] Amniocentesis is also an offence under the MTP Act as it is generally carried out in the 16th week of pregnancy. After which the entire process, culture and tests etc. normally takes another 6 to 8 weeks based on which the decision to abort if it is a female is made. It thereby violates the MTP Act, which stipulates that abortions have to be carried out within 20 weeks.
[17] The Act provides for stringent penalties against the violators, like imprisonment up to three years and fine up to Rs. 10,000/-; for subsequent offences imprisonment up to five years and fine up to Rs. 50,000/- to Rs. 1 Lakh and if charges of violation of the Act is proved the license of the Registered Medical Practitioner will be suspended.
[18] Cell to Fight Sex Selection. Source: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/19/stories/2006041903571300.htm
[19] See also “Beti Bachao Campaign” and “Beti Bachao Diwas” held in Bhopal in August 2005 to check female foetus killing.
[20] Save the Girl Child. Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=480
[21] ‘Stiffer penalty for sex selection: NCW’; The Hindu; July 19, 2005. Source: http://infochangeindia.org/ChildrenTtop.jsp?section_
[22] Citation Unavailable
[23] Also see V. Krishnan v. G. Rajan (1994) 1 Mad LW (Cri) 16 But See D. Rajeswari v. State of Tamil Nadu & others 1996 CrLJ 3795; Karupayee v. State (citation unavailable)