Infant Afreen was subjected to her father's violence and later hospitalised in Bangalore. Now the latest news is that she succumbed to death by this morning. All the media have been very keen about reporting about the issue. Everyone has blamed her father Umer Farook for his cruel behaviour. His 19 year old wife also has suffered injuries and burns, inflicted by him.
Afreen is not an isolated case. There have been several cases of children reported from different parts of the country. The number of unreported cases is actually more than what has been reported. Why girl children are targeted for violence? We cannot blame one person like Umer Farook. It is the reflection of a patriarchic society wherein girl children are seen as a liability. Umer wanted a male baby as he did not want to take the liability of a girl baby. That was the motivation for him to illtreat his daughter Afreen.
The issue is not very simple. It has got a huge backdrop of violence-filled male dominated society. Son preference has taken toll of millions of girl children in our country. Take the census of 2011 and see the sex ratio. It has further dropped from 927 to alarming figure of 914. It means for each 1000 males, 86 girls were not allowed to be born. Though law has banned sex determination tests and feticide, several clinics in our towns still operate such activities. If you multiply 86 per one thousand for the whole population of 120 crores, you will get the incredible number of 'killed' girls during the past one decade. In this gender based killing, both men and women take active role, irrespective of caste or religion. In fact, women sometimes take lead role for female feticide. The reason is women also are part of the patriarchal society and are supposed to protect its values and norms.
Girls are liabilities for their parents now. Dowry is gigantic demon trying to maul them always. The parents somehow manage to get their daughters married by giving dowry. However, they cannot live peacefully. Dowry harrassment, domestic violence, son preference etc in marital home bring their daughter back home. If she is sent back after solace, she is brought back dead. Currently, deaths of newly wed women are reported regularly. The number of women committed suicide out of domestic vilolence is more than that of farmers now. Unable to bear the wrath of husband, a large number of women kill themselves along with their children. In this situation, what would be the pulse rate of parents who have got daughters? Umer Farook is a slice of this society.
Who is bothered about this silent genocide taking place for several decades? What is the point of making a huge propaganda in Afreen's case when millions are killed systematically but silently? It is called sensationalism or media hype. In such situation, none is interested to get into the actual issue of the problem. Even the child rights activists are carried away with it.
What we need to do at present is the awareness campaign about the importance of girl children, compulsorily involving the religious leaders, political leaders and local community leaders in large scale. Social status of girls has to change, not only in towns but in rural areas as well. It shall not be done only on the declared days for girl child. It should be a regular activity, making a part of the day to day life. This will definitely bring about far fetching changes in and around us.
No comments:
Post a Comment