Dozens of female babies' body parts found in disused Indian well
Pastor Dale Morgan
Dozens of female babies' body parts found in disused Indian well*
Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Monday July 23, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Police in the eastern Indian state of Orissa have exhumed skulls and
body parts believed to be from three dozen aborted female foetuses and
murdered infant girls in an abandoned well, a grisly find that
highlights the persistence of infanticide in the country.
Officers suspect a nearby clinic of performing the abortions and killing
the children because they were female. The owner of the clinic, Sabita
Sahu, and the manager, Shyma Sahu, have been detained for questioning.
Yogesh Bahadur Khurania, a senior police official in Nayagarh district,
told reporters that authorities have yet to conclusively determine the
sex of the bodies unearthed.
The police raids began after the discovery nine days ago when the
remains of seven female foetuses were found buried.
Female infanticide continues in India, even though it is illegal and
condemned by the government. The falling number of girls being born in
the country is believed to be due in part due to the availability of
ultrasound examinations, which allow parents to find out their baby's
gender before birth.
Television channels revealed that Nayagarh has one of the worst sex
ratios in the state. It has a dozen private ultrasound clinics, only one
of which is licensed.
Satish Agnihotri, a demographer who studied Orissa's sex ratios, said
that new technology and increasing prosperity had combined to worsen
widen the gap between the number of boys and the number of girls being
born. In the last census urban Orissa only had 860 girls per 1000 boys.
"This is a new phenomenon in Orissa which traditionally has been free of
the girl child problem. But money and technology are having a big
impact," he said.
The incident is only the tip of the iceberg, said Sabu George, a
prominent campaigner against female feticide. Mr George said that by
2011, Indian families will be killing 1 million female children a year.
Traditionally, India's patriarchal society prefers boys over girls.
Punjab and the neighbouring state of Haryana, the richest states in
India, have seen sex ratios heavily skewed.
According to the 2001 census - the latest official population data - the
national sex ratio was 933 girls to 1,000 boys. In Punjab it was 798
girls to 1,000 boys, compared with 875 in 1991.
The skewing of the populations in favour of males has meant that brides
are scarce - men are forced to travel across the country to find a match.
Mr George said the problem could be traced to "doctors who kill. There
is no other word for it. They take money and with the full knowledge of
the parents they abort female foetuses. The question is whether the
police will prosecute".