Heard this? No one killed female foetus

Female foetuses are found inlitter bins and officials accept hospitals conducting sex determination testsdo exist, yet health dept's RTI reply says there has been no case of femalefoeticide in the state in 7 years

These are a few cases which caught public attention and many more cases remain unreported. Yet, an RTI filed by Mirror with the health and family welfare department elicited the response on October 30 that in seven years beginning 2008, no case of female foeticide has been registered against anyone and hence no one has been convicted. Either the authorities concerned are giving wrong information or have not bothered to collect relevant information.

The discrimination against girl child

AMISHA YAGNIK recounted her horror story in the episode on `female foeticide' of Aamir Khan-anchored Satyamev Jayate in 2012. She was forced to abort her unborn girl child six times in eight years. Later her husband was arrested and a case registered against him.

IN MARCH, 2009 the state govt moved a plea in the sessions court to accuse a doctor of causing miscarriage. The court was conducting a trial against six accused on the basis of a complaint filed by Mamta Viradia against her in-laws for forcible abortion of female foetus.

AVANTIKA MISTRY, 30-year-old resident of Ranip, committed suicide on Sept 20 this year after she was allegedly forced to abort a female foetus. On Sept 14, her mother-in-law had taken her to Surat where she was forced to undergo a sex determination test.

ON APRIL 19, 2010, female foetuses were found in garbage near Shastri Stadium in Bapunagar. It was later found that these foetuses were disposed of by a clinic. The doctor was detained by cops. The then AMC medical officer accepted existence of such private clinics also gets reflected in the state's declining sex ratio. According to 2001 Census report, there were 964 girl children per 1,000 boy children. The ratio declined to 886 in 2011 Census. Echoing the concern, Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has stated that cases of female foeticide are still reported in the state despite the government undertaking awareness campaigns on falling sex ratio and need to end the practice.

KILLING PREVALENT: CM

“Even today, female foeticide takes place in Gujarat. When I go to villages and check the figures of pregnant women with actual births, the numbers, many a time, don't match due to female foeticide, resulting in decline in sex ratio,“ Patel had told women farmers' conclave organised as part of Krishi Mahotsav earlier this year in Gandhinagar.

But shockingly the response to an RTI application filed by Mirror mentioned that in seven years, from 2008 to 2014, no case of female foeticide has been registered against anyone and hence no one has been put on trial or convicted.

People have been charged with conducting sex determination tests, though. However, the conviction rate has been less than 4 per cent, according to official data.

Despite the state government taking up several initiatives -Beti Bachao Abhiyan being the premier programme -the RTI revelation makes it evident they have been poorly implemented.

`DATA NOT COLLECTED'

As girl child right activists say, collecting data related to female foeticide has become the biggest hurdle as most of the cases go unreported.

“If there is no proper reporting, how would anyone get convicted? In fact, many reported cases are not brought to logical conclusion due to inefficiency in governance,“ said Smita Bajpai, maternal and child health programme officer at CHETNA, an NGO working in health sector.

According to Dr Donald Christian of the Department of Community Medicine of GSC Medical College, around 20 per cent women would have aborted their girl child had they known the gender of the child earlier.

More shockingly, many pregnant women who were surveyed by Dr Christian during his study `Pregnant women's awareness for saving the girl child' said that they wanted male child as they did not want their Daughter to go through the same hardship as they had experienced.

CONVICTION RATE 3.9%

The data provided by the government shows the conviction rate in the state under the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act is only 3.9 per cent. Similarly, in 2013, former Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in a written reply to Rajya Sabha had stated that only 143 people had been punished for conducting sex determination tests since the enactment of the act in 1996. Maharashtra with 50 has punished the highest number of offenders under the Act but till date, Gujarat has convicted only six people under the Act.

An official requesting anonymity said, “Even though sex determination test is illegal in the country, it is still in practice on the outskirts of the city. Many doctors illegally perform this evil practice.“

NOT OUR AREA: ASST DIRECTOR

Rakesh R Vaidya, assistant director in the Commissionerate of Health and Family Welfare, said that the issue of female foeticide did not fall under its jurisdiction. If any person has been accused of killing a female foetus, it falls under Section 315 and 316 of the Indian Penal Code. “Sex determination of an unborn child is illegal and is a punishable offence. Our department is responsible to stop such criminal activity but looking into female foeticide is beyond our jurisdiction,“ added Dr Vaidya.

CONFUSION OVER FOETICIDE

Not only do cases of female foeticide go unreported, there seems to be confusion on the impact of the state's “Save the girl child“ campaign.

On June 1 this year, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Patel sought co-operation from religious leaders in the government's movement to save the girl child and prevent female foeticide yet she claimed that the state had successfully eradicated the menace.

“I make a request to holy men to expedite the movement to save the girl child,“ she said, addressing a religious event in Juna gadh district but went on to add, “Gujarat government has been successful in eradicating female foeticide. So, today the state's sex ratio is 904, while a few years ago, it was 804,“ she was reported as saying by PTI.

Nine days later she told the conclave of women farmers in Gandhinagar that female foeticide still took place in Gujarat.