All India Muslim Professional Law (AIMPL) Board General Secretary Maulana Hazrat Mohammad Wali Rahmani on March 1, 2021 grieved the death of a married woman in Gujarat, who died by suicide, following extreme harassment from in-laws regarding dowry.

“It is despicable that in-laws harass women for dowry. Daughter-in-laws should be treated well. Repeatedly taunting them, asking their family to bring money, mentally and physically torturing women is not the job of good people. In Islam, it is forbidden to take or give dowry but people do not follow it,” said Rahmani.

The woman recorded a video message shortly before her death for her father wherein she talked about the abuse and appealed to her family not to pursue a domestic violence case.

The Board representative said that without giving such incidents a religious colour, they should serve as a warning to people, especially Muslims, to free the society of such social evils. Society should think seriously about the real reasons for these, said Rehmani. Accordingly, in light of growing discussion around such social evils, the AIMPL Board has called for a campaign in this regard. 

The Tafheem-e-Shariah committee has called for meetings in all states to highlight people’s attention towards such incidents. Organisations appealed to people to support the initiatives and eliminate the social evil of dowry.

“Every person should start this from home. They should commit to the fact that neither they will not ask for or give dowry during their children’s wedding. The disease of dowry should be eradicated from the whole society,” said Rahmani.

Teachings of Islam also forbid the practice of suicide. According to Rahmani, due to such teachings, Muslim communities face few cases of killing, burning, killing, and suicide compared to other religions. However, the recent incident has received undue attention due to the victim being a Muslim woman.

“By making publicity of this, some people are attempting to show that there are many incidents of suicides within the Muslim community which is not right,” said Rahmani.

For anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts, here’s a 24-hour helpline 9820466726. Similarly, women in distress may contact the Central Social Welfare Board -Police Helpline number 1091/ 1291, (011) 23317004 or contact Sakshi – violence intervention center via (0124) 2562336/ 5018873.  

The official statement issued by the AIMPLB may be read here: 

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SC on Dowry Death: No conviction if unnatural death not established

The post We need to rid society of dowry’s curse: All India Muslim Personal Law Board appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In the Supreme Court, a Bench comprising Justices RF Nariman, K M Joseph and Aniruddha Bose has acquitted three persons accused of dowry death under Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code, reversing the High Court of Uttarakhand order. (Sandeep Kumar and Ors v State of Uttarakhand and Anr Crl Apl No. 1512-1513 of 2017)

Senior Counsel Siddharth Dave appeared for the appellants. Krishnam Mishra appeared for the State and Sanjay Kumar Dubey appeared for the other respondent (victim’s father).

Matter before the Court

The daughter of the second respondent and the appellant got married in the year 2009 and soon the daughter was allegedly getting harassed for dowry. It was alleged further by the respondent that his now deceased daughter was poisoned by the husband and her in laws in 2011.

The trial court had acquitted them holding that the offence of dowry death was not proven citing lack of evidence. However, the High Court reversed the acquittal on an appeal filed by the father of the deceased woman and sentenced the husband of the deceased, father and mother in law (appellants) to life imprisonment under section 304B of the Indian Penal Code.

Court’s observation

As the appellants moved the Supreme Court, the Bench noted that it has to be shown that the deceased wife was subjected to cruelty or harassment in connection with demand for dowry soon before her death.

The court set out the ingredients that would qualify as offences under section 304B. Justice Joseph said, “The ingredients of the offence are well-settled. A marriage performed within seven years before the death of the wife. The death must be unnatural. Soon before the death, the deceased wife must have been at the receiving end of cruelty or harassment, on account of demand for dowry. It is described as dowry death.”

“The relatives concerned, including husband, become liable. Section 113B of the Evidence Act comes to the rescue of the prosecutor by providing for a presumption that a person has caused dowry death if, it is shown that soon before her death, she was subjected by such person for cruelty or harassment for or in connection with demand for dowry”, he added.

The court opined that in this case, unnatural death of the deceased could not be proved by the prosecution because “in this case, there is no evidence at all that the deceased died of poisoning. Secondly, there is no evidence to show that the appellants had poison in their possession.”

The court then referred to the observations in Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v. State of Maharashtra (1984) 4 SCC 116 and Anant Chintamun Lagu v State of Bombay AIR 1960 SC 500, to reiterate the circumstances necessary to prove death by poisoning. They are:

(1) there is a clear motive for an accused to administer poison to the deceased,

(2) that the deceased died of poison said to have been administered,

(3) that the accused had the poison in his possession,

(4) that he had an opportunity to administer the poison to the deceased.

Keeping these conditions in the mind, the top court bench noted, “As far as the facts of the present case is concerned, we have noticed that there is absolutely no evidence relating to poison in relation to the deceased. Were it a case of forcible poisoning by using a corrosive poison, there would been some marks. There are none. If it were forcible poisoning by using any kind of poison, there would be struggle and resistance from the victim. Even the material (wiper) recovered, according to prosecution, and which allegedly was used to clean vomit of the deceased did not disclose any poison.”

Further, the court observed that the deceased had a history of tuberculosis before her marriage. The court also said that although, “it was the duty of the investigating officer to record the statements of the last treating doctor”, there was evidence of the victim undergoing treatment for Tuberculosis. The top court also noted certain discrepancies in the oral testimonies of the father, brother and a relative of the victim regarding demand for dowry.

Finally, the apex court noticed that the High Court had erred in its observations and reversed the acquittal of the appellants by the Trial Court. “It is well to remember that while the search of the truth and adjudicatory function of the judiciary are not strange bedfellows, these self-imposed limitations on the pursuit are based on the nature of jurisdiction. Every deviation from such limits could indeed result in grave injustice requiring correction to prevent miscarriage of justice. Excess of jurisdiction can have very serious repercussions, particularly when, what is involved is, personal liberty, which is inevitably at stake in a criminal trial”, the court said.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court allowed the appeals and directed the release of the first appellant (deceased’s husband) from custody and discharge of the bail bond of appellants 2 and 3 (father in law and mother in law).

The SC judgment dated December 2 may be read here: 

Related:

Former Jharkhand DGP and BJP leader accused of mental harassment for dowry by daughter-in-law

Dilution of Section 498A belittles the ongoing domestic abuse suffered by women

The post SC on Dowry Death: No conviction if unnatural death not established appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Former Jharkhand Director General of Police-turned BJP leader D.K. Pandey has been accused of mental harassment by his daughter-in-law in an FIR lodged with the women’s police station in Ranchi on June 28, The Telegraph Online reported.

According to a copy of the FIR which the publication had accessed, Rekha Mishra, Pandey’s daughter-in-law, alleged that he and other family members mentally harassed her for dowry and hid facts about the sexual orientation of her husband, Subhankan Pandey.

An officer of the Mahila police station told The Telegraph that an FIR against DK Pandey, his wife Poonam Pandey and his son Subhankan Pandey was lodged under Section 498 (A) (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty; harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security) of the Indian Penal Code. Rekha Mishra, also allegedly made another serious accusation against DK Pandey, saying that he tried to establish a physical relationship with her and also pressured her into establishing a physical relationship with others.

However, this is not an isolated case where servicemen and other elected representatives have been accused of such heinous crimes.

In February this year, a 24-year-old woman from Chennai accused her IPS officer husband of domestic violence and dowry harassment, but struggled to get a case registered against him, The Quint reported. However, the apathy of authorities was very visible with the handling of the matter. It was reported that Aruna, who accused her husband, IPS officer Ananda Rajaguru of dowry harassment, domestic violence, desertion and criminal intimidation, first approached the police with her complaint on December 23, 2019. However, the police first refused to file the FIR as her husband was an IPS officer. They accepted her complaint three days later, but even then did not file an FIR. Soon, Aruna approached the High Court about the police’s refusal to file the FIR, which directed the police to take action based on the severity of the offence. However, even then the police refused to file an FIR immediately, saying that the only reason the case came to notice was because the accused was an IPS officer, said The Quint.

In another incident that took place in June this year, a woman allegedly died by suicide after her husband, a constable attached with the District Armed Reserve (DAR) in Mysuru, harassed her father for dowry.

In January 2020, a case was registered against a Congress corporator Siddheshwar Kammurti from the Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC) and his three family members for allegedly harassing his daughter-in-law for dowry, News 18 reported. The complainant alleged that her husband and in-laws had demanded money from her parents and tortured her physically and mentally, due to which she had to abort her child. Kammurti was earlier associated with the BJP as a corporator, but had switched to Congress after he was denied a ticket by the BJP during the previous civic polls.

Last year in September, CCTV footage surfaced of a retired judge who served at the Hyderabad and Madras High Court and his wife and son, physically abusing a woman in front of her child, The Quint reported. It was said that the woman had complained about the alleged dowry harassment in April last year, but was unable to find an advocate to argue her case due to the influence her father-in-law, Ram Mohan Rao held. The complainant had alleged that she had been physically assaulted for dowry and in April, she was reportedly assaulted to such an extent that she had to be rushed to the hospital. The Quint reported that at the time, medical reports had revealed that there were nail marks on her chest and abrasions all over her body.

In November last year, the daughter-in-law of a well-known BJP corporator from Pimpri Chinchwad filed a police complaint alleging that she was being physically and mentally harassed for dowry, Pune Mirror reported. She had accused her mother-in-law (the said BJP corporator) and her sons of domestic violence and had also alleged that her brother-in-law tried to molest her.

Legal Provisions in India for prohibiting dowry

Under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, Section 3 (penalty for giving and taking dowry), if any person after the commencement of the Act gives or takes, abets the giving or taking of dowry shall be punished with an imprisonment for a term not less than five years and with fine not less than Rs. 15,000 or the amount of the value of dowry, whichever is more.

Under Section 4 (penalty for demanding dowry), if any person directly or indirectly demands dowry from the parents, relatives or guardians of the bride or the bridegroom shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than six months and which shall extend to two years and with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees.

Under Section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code (husband or relative of husbands subjecting woman to cruelty), the perpetrator shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. It also allows for immediate arrest and imprisonment of a woman’s spouse and her in-laws in the case of harassment and cruelty on the basis of a complaint.

Factly reported that in 2014, the cases registered under 498 A crossed 1.2 lakh, however, this number fell to 1.03 lakhs in 2018, as per the data from the National Crime Records Bureau. As per the NCRB Crime in India 2018 report, there 7,166 cases of dowry related deaths (304B IPC) in the country. Under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, as many as 12,826 cases were registered in 2018, up from 10,189 in 2017 and 9,683 in 2016. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar accounted for the highest number of dowry deaths – 2,444 and 1,107 respectively.

Out of 7,166 reported cases of dowry deaths, 3,273 were pending investigation by the end of the year and out of the over 12,000 cases booked under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, as many as 7,425 were yet pending investigation. The conviction rate with regards to dowry deaths was only 39.6 percent and that for cases booked under the Dowry Prohibition Act was only 24.1 percent.

It is important that victims of harassment and domestic violence be given a safe atmosphere to safely file their complaints. While the struggle becomes even more difficult if people in power are involved, it is imperative that the chain of silence is broken and there is enough mettle in the laws to ensure protection to victims.

Related:

Dilution of Section 498A belittles the ongoing domestic abuse suffered by women

Sexism in the time of Corona: How the “Corona Dayan” took over social media

The post Former Jharkhand DGP and BJP leader accused of mental harassment for dowry by daughter-in-law appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Gold jewellery has traditionally been central to dowries in India. witty234/Shutterstock

Dowry, a transfer at marriage from parents to daughters, is an ancient tradition thought to date back to at least 200BC, and was widely prevalent in medieval Western Europe. While it has virtually disappeared in most of the rest of the world, it persists in contemporary India – despite prohibition since 1961 – and has become increasingly common in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

While dowry payments originally acted as a bequest to daughters that afforded them financial protection after their marriage, dowries are now often appropriated by the groom or his parents rather than retained by the bride.

Dowries impose a considerable tax on girls’ families, with estimates indicating that in South Asia it is six times the average annual household income. As a result, even though dowry is banned and can result in prosecution, families in India often start saving for dowry as soon as a girl is born. Previous research has also suggested that dowry costs contribute to a preference among Indian parents for sons rather than daughters, but there is no previous causal quantitative evidence of this.

While there is no consistent time series data on dowry transactions across India, my colleagues and I analysed variation in the financial burden of dowries over more than three decades, based on fluctuation in gold prices on the world market. Gold, typically in the form of jewellery, is an integral part of dowry in India and since India imports more than 90% of its gold, fluctuations in the international price translate into fluctuations in the cost of dowry.
 

Girl babies neglected

We merged monthly data on international gold prices between 1972 and 2005 with monthly birth cohort data, and analysed whether gold price changes influenced the sex ratio at birth and the survival of a newborn girl up to the age of one month. Using this large data set with more than 100,000 births, we found that in months where the gold price went up, the chances of a girl surviving through the neonatal period were significantly lower than for boys. In fact, gold price inflation was correlated with an improved survival chance for boys.

Disappearing baby girls. CRS Photo/Shutterstock

Between 1972 and 1985, our analysis showed a 6.3% increase in the monthly price of gold was accompanied by an increase in girl neonatal mortality of 6.4%. During the same period, there was no significant corresponding change in male neonatal mortality.

We also found that those women who were born in months when the gold price was increasing were shorter in adulthood. This is consistent with previous research which has established that nutritional deprivation in early life leads to lower stature in adulthood, and that some parents in India deprive girls of nutritional inputs. In this case, it could be that lower levels of breastfeeding led to girls born in months of gold inflation being shorter as adults. We found that those girls that survived carried a marker of relative neglect into adulthood, compared to boys born in months of gold price inflation.

We separated out the results for children born between 1986 and 2005, as ultrasound technology became widely available across India after the mid 1980s. My previous research showed that in this period parents shifted away from neglecting girls after birth to aborting unwanted girls before birth. For potential births after 1986, we found that a 2.6% increase in the price of gold during pregnancy was accompanied by a statistically significant 0.3 percentage point decline in the probability that a girl rather than a boy would be born.
 

Focus on gold

By one means or the other, parents seem to be reacting to gold price increases by trying to reduce the chance of having a surviving girl child. Clearly, to respond in this way parents need to be aware of changes in gold prices. Given the importance of gold in India, gold prices regularly feature in the media but people also talk frequently about gold prices and dowry costs. If Indians were not aware of the gold price fluctuations, it would be hard to find an alternative explanation of our findings.

We conducted various tests of our results, to determine how strongly we can link these back to dowry costs. For example, it could be that gold price increases are a proxy for a decline in real income because those who want to buy gold have less money to spend on other things and this may have an impact on girl survival rates. However, after investigating these possibilities statistically, we concluded that the evidence points to dowry costs as the driver of our findings.

One may imagine that parents react to increases in gold prices by reducing the amount of gold given in dowry while maintaining its value. But, using a rural survey containing information on dowry, we found that its value tends to rise more or less proportionately with gold prices, suggesting that social norms may make it hard to adjust quantities downwards.

Recent government figures from India’s Census Office suggest that only 900 girls were born for every 1,000 boys between 2013 and 2015, indicating a continuing trend in the abortion of girl foetuses. This is despite persistent high economic growth and declining poverty in India over the past three decades.

Policies to strengthen the monitoring of dowry prohibition in India are unlikely to work because social norms lead families to support tradition and to co-operate in violating the ban. But there is room for hope: the equalisation of property rights for women and rising levels of education for both men and women may slowly but spontaneously loosen the dowry tradition.
 

Sonia Bhalotra, Professor of Economics, University of Essex

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Image: India.gov.in

पिछले साल जनवरी में प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान शुरू किया था। आजादी के बाद यह पहली दफा है, जब भारत सरकार ने किसी जन अभियान के तहत कन्या भ्रूण हत्या का मुद्दा उठाया है। अठारहवीं सदी के ब्रिटिश जनगणना आंकड़ों ने भारत में महिला-पुरुष आबादी के बढ़ते असंतुलन की तसदीक की थी। इन आंकड़ों में किसी न किसी रूप में कन्या भ्रूण हत्या से लेकर सती प्रथा के जरिये महिलाओं को मार डालने की वजह से महिलाओं की घटती संख्या के बारे में चिंता जताई गई थी। लेकिन आजादी के बाद आई सरकारें इस मुद्दे पर बेहद उदासीन रहीं, भले ही कन्या भ्रूण हत्याएं महामारी की तरह फैल गईं। 

इस मुद्दे पर मोदी की पहल बेहद चौंकाने वाली थी क्योंकि उनके मुख्यमंत्री रहने के दौरान गुजरात में लडक़ों की तुलना में लड़कियों का अनुपात (चाइल्ड सेक्स रेश्यो- सीएसआर) का रिकार्ड सबसे खराब था। इसके अलावा महिलाओं के प्रति मोदी के विचार महिला अधिकारों के लिए लडऩे वाले कार्यकर्ताओं को हमेशा नागवार गुजरे हैं। जैसे- एक बार मोदी ने पांच साल से कम उम्र की लड़कियों में कुपोषण की वजह उनकी फैशन और डाइटिंग के प्रति सजगता को करार दिया था। हालांकि  प्रधानमंत्री के तौर पर उनके बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान पर महिला और बाल विकास मंत्री मेनका गांधी के विचारों की छाप साफ दिखती है। मोदी जी ने महसूस किया कि जिस तरह से अलग-अलग तरीकों से महिलाओं की हत्या की जा रही है वह एक राष्ट्रीय संकट बनता जा रहा है। इसके बावजूद बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ के उनके नारे से लगता है कि वह बेटियों को बचाने की भीख मांग रहे हैं। इस मामले में वह अधिकार की भाषा बोलने के बजाय अनुनय-विनय करते नजर आ रहे हैं।

भारत में कन्या भ्रूण हत्या को गरीबी और अशिक्षा से जोड़ कर देखा जाता है। जबकि आंकड़े कुछ और कहते हैं। हाल के जनगणना आंकड़ेे (2011 के आंकड़ें) के मुताबिक चाइल्ड सेक्स रेश्यो यानी सीएसआर (यह जन्म से छह साल की उम्र तक लडक़े और लड़कियों की संख्या का अनुपात है) सबसे गरीब और कम पढ़े लिखे समुदायों के बीच सबसे अच्छा है। दुनिया भर में 1000 लडक़ों पर 950 लड़कियों का अनुपात आदर्श माना जाता है। लेकिन आर्थिक समृद्धि और शिक्षा में बढ़ोतरी के साथ ही यह अनुपात बिगडऩे लगता है। देश के सबसे धनी राज्यों में लडक़ों और लड़कियों की तादाद का अनुपात 850 और इससे कम तक पहुंच चुका है। 2011 की जनगणना में 1000 पुरुषों पर 914 महिलाओं का राष्ट्रीय अनुपात है। यानी धनी राज्यों में महिला-पुरुष अनुपात राष्ट्रीय औसत से भी कम है। 1000 पुरुषों पर 914 महिलाओं का राष्ट्रीय अनुपात आजादी के बाद से अब तक का सबसे खराब अनुपात है। आर्थिक समृद्धि में बढ़ोतरी और उसी के अनुपात में 0 से 6 साल के बीच की लड़कियों की हत्या के बीच यह जो संबंध है यह हर जगह यानी पड़ोसी इलाकों, जिलों, गांवों, शहरों और राज्यों में भी दिखता है। यानी कम समृद्ध की तुलना में अधिक समृद्ध जगहों पर महिला-पुरुष अनुपात ज्यादा खराब है। यही चीज जिलों, गांवों, शहरों और राज्यों में भी लागू होती है।

अगर धार्मिक समुदायों की भी तुलना करें तो यहां भी यह गैप आपको नजर आएगा। देश के सबसे समृद्ध सिख और जैन समुदायों में लडक़ों की तुलना में लड़कियों की तादाद काफी कम है। लेकिन इसके उलट आदिवासियों और कथित निचली जातियों में लड़कियों और लडक़ों का अनुपात सबसे अच्छा है। जबकि ये समुदाय सबसे कम शिक्षित और निर्धनतम माने जाते हैं। जिन आदिवासियों के बीच शिक्षा और नौकरियों से समृद्धि आ रही है, वहां लड़कियों और लडक़ों का अनुपात बिगड़ रहा रहा है।

 केरल का इतिहास मातृसत्तात्मक रहा है। वहां कन्या भ्रूण हत्या का इतिहास नहीं रहा है। यहां लड़कियों और लडक़ों का अनुपात सबसे अच्छा था। उच्च साक्षरता दर (92 फीसदी) इसकी वजह मानी जाती रही है। लेकिन 2011 के जनगणना आंकड़ों में सीएसआर में 8.44 फीसदी की गिरावट दर्ज की गई। राज्य में कन्या भ्रूण हत्या और छोटी बच्चियों की हत्या की बेतहाशा बढ़ती दरों की वजह से ऐसा होना स्वाभाविक है। इसका संबंध भी आर्थिक समृद्धि में बढ़ोतरी से है। केरल में बाहर से (प्रवासी केरलवासियों की ओर से धन भेजने की वजह से) खूब पैसा आया है। हर साल यहां विदेश से 20 अरब डॉलर आते हैं।  राज्य में लंबे समय तक कम्यूनिस्ट शासन रहा है। फिर आखिर लड़कियों से छुटकारा पाने की वजह क्या है? खास कर जब आप समृद्धि की ओर बढ़ते जा रहे हैं तो ऐसी क्या मजबूरी है कि लड़कियों को मारा जाए? दरअसल इसकी वजह है दहेज- धन के स्वामित्व और वितरण पर कब्जा जमाने के लिए एक घातक, महिला विरोधी और पितृसत्तात्मक  राजनीति। जैसे-जैसे परिवार आर्थिक तौर पर समृद्ध होता जाता है वैसे-वैसे धन पर पितृसत्तात्मक पकड़ के उसके माध्यमों पर भी निवेश बढ़ता जाता है और यह बेटियों को अपने इस लक्ष्य में बाधक के तौर पर देखने लगते हैं। दरअसल, लडक़ी जितनी शिक्षित होगी और उसका परिवार जितना समृद्ध होगा, उससे उतना ही ज्यादा दहेज लाने की अपेक्षा होगी। दहेज को लड़कियों से छुटकारा पाने के रास्ते के तौर पर देखा जाता है ताकि वह परिवार की आर्थिक विरासत पर अपने हक की आवाज न उठाए। लेकिन अब बढ़ती शिक्षा की वजह से लड़कियां अपने मां-बाप की संपत्ति में अपने हक की लड़ाई लडऩे लगी हैं। 

दूसरी ओर, एक पुरुष को न केवल अपने मां-बा की संपत्ति का हक मिलता है बल्कि उसकी पत्नी के मां-बाप की संपत्ति का भी हिस्सा मिल जाता है। बेटा धन हासिल करने का आसान माध्यम होता है। वह जितना शिक्षित होगा, उसका परिवार उतना ही ज्यादा दहेज मांगने का हकदार माना जाएगा। असल में शादियों की बातचीत के दौरान खुलेआम दहेज का रेट चार्ट बांटा जाता है। इसमें नकद, लग्जरी कार, प्रॉपर्टी, सोने और हीरे के गहनों की किलो के हिसाब से मांग की जाती है। वास्तव में जिन इलाकों में दहेज के रेट ज्यादा हैं वहां से इससे जुड़ी हिंसा, हत्या और आत्महत्याओं की रिपोर्ट भी ज्यादा आती है।

Image: India.gov.in

गरीब और निरक्षर समुदायों में जो चीज लड़कियों को बचाती है वह है पितृसत्तात्मक की विपरीत सामाजिक व्यवस्था का विस्तार। यह  व्यवस्था उस पितृसत्तात्मक समाज के बिल्कुल उलट है, जिसमें महिला को इंसान न मानकर एक खरीद-बिक्री की वस्तु माना जाता है। ऐसी चीज जिसे इस्तेमाल कर फेंक दिया जा सकता है। गरीब घरों में बेेटियां इसलिए बची रह जाती हैं कि क्योंकि  बच्चे के तौर पर उनसे आर्थिक गुलामी करवाई जा सकती है। गरीब घरों में बेटियां सफाई, रसोई के साथ, पानी और ईंधन इकट्ठा करने जैसा काम करती हैं। वे परिवार के लिए काम करके पैसा भी कमा सकती हैं। लाखों लड़कियों को उनके परिवार वाले शहरी इलाके में घरेलू नौकरानियों के तौर पर काम करने के लिए भेज देते हैं। श्रमिकों को तौर पर ये लड़कियां खेतों से लेकर फैक्टरियों और सेक्स इंडस्ट्री में काम करने लगती हैं।

इन लड़कियों के दम पर एक और धंधा फलता-फूलता है और यह है गरीब लड़कियों को धनी राज्यों में दुल्हन बना कर बेच देना। इन इलाकों में इन गरीब लड़कियों को गुलाम की तरह रखा जाता है और उनके साथ यौन दुव्र्यवहार होता है। इन लड़कियों को बच्चे पैदा करने के लिए लाया जाता है और फिर किसी दूसरे परिवार में दुल्हन के तौर पर बेच दिए जाने से पहले परिवार का हर पुरुष उनके साथ दुव्र्यवहार करता है और शोषण करता है। हैदराबाद में तो यह कारोबार खूब चलता है। खाड़ी देशों के कामुक अमीर यहां की मुस्लिम नाबालिग लड़कियों के मां-बाप को अच्छी खासी रकम देकर ले जाते हैं। इन लड़कियों से एक तरह की अस्थायी शादी की जाती है और फिर इनके साथ गुलामों की तरह बर्ताव किया जाता है। उन्हें प्रताडि़त किया जाता है और फिर स्वदेश लौटने से पहले उन्हें तलाक दे दिया जाता है।  देश में बच्चों की खरीद-फरोख्त का नेटवर्क भी खूब फला-फूला हुआ है। यह नेटवर्क अक्सर सरकारी अनाथालयों से ऑपरेट होते हैं। यहां से गरीब आदिवासी समुदायों की नवजात बच्चियों को 5000 रुपये में खरीदा जा सकता है। हालांकि  बेडिय़ा, बांछड़ा, कंजर,सांसी और नट जैसे कई ऐसे जनजातीय समुदाय हैं जहां बेटियों और बहनों को वेश्यावृति के धंधे में डाल कर उन्हें आय का ोत बनाने की परंपरा रही है। इसे परिवार का धंधा माना जाता है। इन समुदायों में लड़कियों की वर्जिनिटी को नीलाम करने की परंपरा रही है। दस साल तक की छोटी बच्चियों की वर्जिनिटी की बोली लगती है। जो जितना ज्यादा पैसा देता है उसे लडक़ी सौंप दी जाती है। 2011 की जनगणना में चौंकाने वाले आंकड़े दिखे हैं। आदिवासी समुदाय में प्रति एक हजार पुरुषों में महिलाओं की संख्या 950 है। लेकिन बेडिय़ा समुदाय में 1000 पुरुषों में महिलाओं की संख्या 1276  है। यह असामान्य रूप से ज्यादा है।

 बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान पर काफी पैसा खर्च किया जा रहा है। लेकिन इसमें बेहतरीन रणनीति और सूझबूझ भरी परियोजनाओं के बजाय नारेबाजी पर जोर है। इससे इसके लक्ष्यों के प्रति संदेह पैदा होता है।

सामान्य समझ तो यह कहती है कि बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान में फोकस मध्य और उच्च वर्ग पर होना चाहिए। आंकड़े बताते हैं कि इन वर्गों में लडक़े और लड़कियों का अनुपात (सीएसआर) सबसे खराब है। इसके बावजूद इस अभियान का पूरा फोकस ग्रामीण देश के ग्रामीण और सबसे गरीब जिलों पर है। राजनीतिक नुकसान होने के डर से अभियान का पूरा फोकस गरीबों और कम समृद्ध इलाकों पर है। जबकि फोकस मध्य और उच्च वर्ग पर होना चाहिए।

गांवों में बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान के तहत जिस एक पॉपुलर प्रोग्राम को खासा फंड दिया जा रहा है- वह है बेटी के जन्म पर एक पेड़ रोपना। इसके पीछे तर्क है कि जब बेटी को दहेज देना हो तो पिता इस पेड़ को काट कर इसकी लकड़ी बेचेगा और कुछ पैसे जुटाएगा। इस तरह से यह उसी दहेज की कुरीति को बढ़ावा देना है, जिसकी वजह से कन्या भ्रूण हत्या बढ़ रही है।

बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान शुरू करने के वक्त जो दो अहम और प्रभावी परियोजनाएं सुझाई गई थीं वे अब तक शुरू नहीं हो पाई हैं। इनमें से एक सुझाव में कहा गया था कि हर इलाके मेंं एक सार्वजनिक बोर्ड लगाया जाए जिस पर पर हर महीने वहां और आसपास के इलाकों के सीएसआर आंकड़ें दर्ज किए जाएं। इससे लोगों को लडक़ों और लड़कियों के अनुपात के बारे में पता चलेगा। यह अभियान शहरी, मध्य और उच्च वर्ग वाले इलाकों में चलाया जाना चाहिए। इसे प्रभावी तौर पर लागू करने कि लिए पुलिस और लीगल सेल की भी मदद ली जा सकती है।

दूसरा सुझाव यह था कि सभी बच्चियों की जन्म और मृत्यु का अनिवार्य रजिस्ट्रेशन हो। इसके साथ ही 15 साल की उम्र तक हर लडक़ी की निगरानी की अनिवार्य मॉनिटरिंग हो। इस उम्र तक बड़ी संख्या में लड़कियां मार दी जाती हैं या गायब हो जाती हैं। वास्तव में कई बार निम्न सीएसआर अनुपात की वजह कन्या भ्रूण हत्या को माना जाता है। लेकिन जनगणना आंकड़ों के विश्लेषण से पता चलता है कि 84 फीसदी से अधिक लड़कियां एक से छह साल के भीतर मार दी जाती हैं। दरअसल भ्रूण जांच और जन्म लेने के बाद से एक साल के भीतर दस लाख से कम बच्चियों को मारा गया है। लेकिन एक साल से छह साल की उम्र तक पहुंचते ही 70 लाख बच्चियां खत्म कर दी गईं।

इस डरावनी स्थिति को देखते ही बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान में इन दो परियोजनाओं को लागू करना सर्वोच्च प्राथमिकता होनी चाहिए।

( रीता बनर्जी लेखिका, फोटोग्राफर और जेंडर एक्टिविस्ट हैं। इनकी किताब – सेक्स एंड पावर : डिफाइनिंग हिस्ट्री, शेपिंग सोसाइटीज,  जेंडर, सेक्सुलिटी और भारत मेंं सत्ता के संबंधों पर ऐतिहासिक अध्ययन है। वह 50 मिलियन मिसिंग कैंपेन की संस्थापक और डायरेक्टर हैं। )

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Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ (Save the Girl, Educate the Girl) programme, launched in January 2015, was the first time since independence that the Indian government had raised the issue of female genocide in a public campaign. British census data in the 18th century had attributed India’s skewed sex ratio to female infanticide and other forms of femicide, such as sati, but after independence subsequent governments remained bizarrely indifferent to the issue even as it reached epidemic proportions.

 

Expanding Worlds: mural on the wall of a girls high school depicting career options for women. Photo: Rita Banerji

Modi’s initiative was all the more surprising, given that Gujarat had recorded the lowest Child Sex Ratio (CSR) for girls under his stewardship as state minister.  Modi’s views on women often infuriated women’s activists, for example when he attributed  the high rate of malnutrition among girls under five in his state to dieting and fashion consciousness.  However, as Prime Minister, his Save the Girl campaign appears to have the imprint of Maneka Gandhi’s (the Women and Child Development Minister) independent thinking on women’s issues.  Mr. Modi observed that female genocide  is a national “crisis” although his plea to let girls live and to educate them was framed as the ‘Prime Minister… begging for the lives of daughters’ rather than in the language of rights.

India’s female genocide is widely attributed to poverty and illiteracy even though data and facts say otherwise. As India’s most recent census data from 2011 shows, the CSR, which is the ratio of girls to boys from birth to six years, is best among the poorest and least educated communities. Globally a CSR of 950 girls to 1000 boys is considered ‘normal’.  CSR in India gets worse in proportion to increases in wealth and education. The wealthiest states have a CSR of 850 and below, much lower than the national CSR of 914 in the 2011 census, itself the lowest since India’s independence. This correlation between increase in wealth and a corresponding increase in the rate of killing of girls in the 0-6years age group is repeated across the spectrum in neighbourhoods, districts, villages, cities and states. 

Even a religion wise comparison reveals that the worst CSRs are to be found among the wealthiest communities: the Sikhs and the Jains. Conversely, the highest CSRs are among the tribal and lower caste communities who are also the poorest and least educated.  Yet even among the tribals, when there’s access to wealth through education and jobs, there is a corresponding decline in CSR.  Kerala, with its matrilineal past and no history of female infanticide, had a higher than national average CSR which was always attributed to its high literacy rate (almost 92%). However by the 2011 census Kerala too showed a drop of 8.44% in CSR with reports of rampant foeticide and infanticide. This corresponded with an influx of wealth (almost $20 billion/year) into this historically communist state from Indians working overseas.

What is this driving compulsion to be rid of daughters, particularly with upward social mobility? The answer is dowry – the insidious, misogynist, patriarchal politics of wealth ownership and distribution. The more wealth a family accrues, the more invested it becomes in the patriarchal retention of that wealth and views daughters as a threat to that goal.  Indeed, the more educated a daughter is, and wealthier her family, the bigger the dowry she is expected to bring. Dowry is seen as a way of dispensing with a daughter who then can make no further claims on the family’s inheritance, but because of their education daughters are increasingly fighting for their legal share of parental property. On the other hand, a man not only has an inherent right to his own parents’ property but to his wife’s parents’ wealth too. A son is an easy means of wealth acquisition; the more educated he is, the larger the dowry the family feels entitled to demand. Indeed there are openly exchanged dowry rate charts that list copious amounts of cash, luxury cars, property and gold and diamond jewellery by the kilos.  In fact wealthier neighbourhoods record the highest rates of dowry violence and dowry related murders and suicides.

Nonetheless, this clear correlation of wealth and education with female genocide is anything but an evil-rich and pious-poor divide. The factors that save girls in poorer and illiterate communities, or at least don’t kill them in the same high proportions, are an inverted extension of the same patriarchal system in which women are simply dehumanised and turned into buyable, sellable, usable and disposable commodities. Daughters in poorer homes are allowed to live because as children they can be put to the economic servitude of their families. Poor families use daughters for cleaning, cooking, fetching fuel and water, and for earning an income for the family.  Millions of girls are leased or sold by their families for work as domestic help in urban areas, as labour in fields and factories, and to the sex industry.

Another thriving business involves the sale of thousands of girls as ’brides’ through a network of agents to wealthier states with low sex ratios. These girls are kept as slaves, to sexually abuse, to bear babies, and are abused and exploited by all the men of the house, before they are resold as ‘bride’ to another family. In Hyderabad, there’s a flourishing business where wealthy paedophiles from Gulf countries pay poor Muslim families handsomely to arrange a temporary “marriage” with their underage daughters, who they enslave, abuse and divorce before returning to their countries. There are also thriving baby trafficking networks, often operating out of government orphanages, where the babies, all girls, can be bought for as little as Rs 5000/- (approx. £60) from poor tribal communities.

However, there are also numerous tribal communities like the Bedia, the Banchada, Kanjar, Sansi and Nut, where traditionally the sex trafficking of daughters and sisters has been a primary source of income for families and is considered a ‘family trade.’ These communities are also known to openly auction the virginities of their daughters as young as ten, for large sums to the highest bidders. The 2011 census’s CSR for the Bedia population shows an interesting anomaly.  While tribal communities generally have normal CSRs of about 950, census data shows the Bedia community with a CSR of 1276, which is abnormally high.  Investigations reveal that tribal communities like the Bedia and Nut have interstate networks to traffic girl babies, who they  adopt and raise as their own ‘daughters’ and prep for the ‘family trade’ by injecting them with hormones to sexually develop them by the time they are seven and eight.

Although the ‘Save the Girl, Educate the Girl’ campaign is well-funded, its emphasis on rhetoric instead of strategic and well thought out projects puts into question its ability to accomplish its goals. Common sense says that the focus needs to be on the middle and upper classes where census data shows CSR to be the worst. Yet, the campaign focuses on rural and poorer districts, instead of targeting the more powerful classes for fear of a political backlash.
 

Colour My Life: a mother buys a colouring book for her daughter from a vendor outside a primary school. Photo: Rita Banerji

A popular rural project that’s been massively funded by this campaign is the planting of trees at the birth of a daughter. The logic behind planting trees is that fathers of girls can harvest these trees to pay dowry. Encouraging the custom of dowry, the very factor contributing to female genocide, contradicts the campaign’s aims. Two of the most important and likely to be effective projects suggested at the campaign’s inauguration unfortunately have not yet seen the light of day, and must be implemented.  One of these projects is putting up public boards that note the CSR of every neighbourhood, on a monthly basis, thereby forcing members of communities to be watchful of and accountable to each other. These particularly must be set up in urban, middle and upper class areas in coordination with police and legal cells for effective action.  

The second recommended project that must be implemented is the compulsory registration of all births and deaths of girl children. Additionally, there must be a system of compulsory monitoring of all girls till they reach the age of 15, as 95 % of girls are killed or go missing between the ages of 1-15 years. Indeed, the low CSR is often falsely assumed to be due to sex-selective abortion.

The breakdown of the CSR census data shows that more than 84% girls are actually killed from age one to six years.  Less than one million girls were eliminated through sex selection and/or killed as infants after birth and up to age one. But by age six, that number escalated and  7 million girls were exterminated. 

In order to save girls, the implementation of these two projects must be the campaign’s number one priority.

Rita Banerji is a writer, photographer and gender activist. Her book 'Sex and Power: Defining History, Shaping Societies' is a historical study of the relationship between gender, sexuality and power in India. She is the founder and director of The 50 Million Missing Campaign, a global campaign to end India's female gendercide. Twitter handle: @rita_banerji

This article was first published on openDemocracy.

 

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