Sociology of Female Foeticide and Infanticide. Where does the Law Stand?

Abstract

The continuity of human generations depends both on men and women. Children are considered the gift of God on earth. But the patriarchal social structure of Indian society continuously denies the rights of girl children both before and after birth. The preference of sons over daughters in a family has been the cause of decreasing sex ratios year by year in India with few exceptions in certain States. The traditions and customs supported by the religious superstitions, play a vital role in this regard. The advances in medical sciences have made it easy to identify the sex of a child even before the birth by misusing the technologies like amniocentesis, scanning and ultra-sonography. Initially these technologies were designed to detect abnormalities of the foetus, but now they are being misused for learning the sex of the foetus with the intention of aborting it if it happens to be that of a female. It is estimated that 5 million girls were eliminated between 1986 and 2001 because of foetal sex determination done by unethical medical professionals. The enactments of laws to curb this attitudinal and social problem have proved unsatisfactory. The present paper seeks to critically examine the growing problem of female foeticide and infanticide in India from the point of socio-legal dimensions.