Narnaul village to penalise those indulging in female foeticide

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Narnaul (Mahendragarh), April 19

To improve gender ratio in the district, the Dublana gram panchayat has decided to award social punishment to the villagers found indulging in female foeticide. It has also decided to impose a penalty up to Rs 10,000 on the defaulters.

The panchayat resolves to take effective steps to prevent wastage of potable water in the village. A surveillance committee has also been formed to keep a tab on the villagers.

The decisions were taken unanimously at the panchayat held in the village yesterday after discussing both the issues.

Mahendragarh district is defamed for gender imbalance and having the lowest sex ratio in the state, with 810 girls against 1,000 boys as per date up to December 2015.

“Since the deteriorating gender ratio in the district has become one of the major reasons behind crimes such as rape, molestation and eve-teasing, stringent steps are required to root out female foeticide,” said Dharam Pal, village sarpanch.

He said the villagers had unanimously taken the decision to impose a fine. A surveillance committee of women villagers had also been formed, which would keep a watch on pregnant women and those having the first female child. The committee would inform the panchayat on finding a case of female foeticide, he said.

“The offender will appear before the village panchayat, which will ask him/her to suggest what sort of punishment he/she wants to get for violating the decision. The move aims at discouraging those who intend to undergo pre-natal sex determination test for the desire of a male child,” said Dharampal.

He said the gram panchayat had also chalked out a special programme to make the villagers aware of the adverse effect of gender imbalance on the next generation. “We have also discussed several points to check wastage of potable water in the village,” the sarpanch said.