Girl's birth drives dad to suicide

Newborn was his fourth daughter, did not visit wife at hospital

In an incident reflecting the discriminatory attitude of society towards girls, a man killed himself in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahar district, about 450 km from here, allegedly after he came to know that his wife had given birth to their fourth girl child.

The man, identified as Sunil Singh, 28, a resident of Allipur Gijhauri village in the district, jumped before a speeding train on Thursday night.

His body was recovered from near the railway tracks on Bulandhshar-Meerut section of the Northern Railway on Friday morning, according to reports.

Reports said he was a petty labourer and was the sole bread earner for his family. He was extremely poor and was deep in debt, the villagers said. He already had three daughters and was finding it very difficult to look after his family.

He was out on some work, when he was informed by someone from his village that his wife had given birth to yet another girl child.

He did not go to the district hospital where his wife had been admitted, reports said.
All efforts by his family members to trace him proved futile. His body was later recovered from near the railway tracks by the police. Police also said that Sunil had been upset after the birth of the fourth baby girl.

Not very long ago, a 20-day old baby girl had been killed by her grand mother in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad town near Delhi as she wanted a boy.

Decline in sex ratio

Female foeticide is rampant in the state, especially the western UP districts as a result of which the sex ratio has declined sharply there.

According to the 2011 census the sex-ratio in many districts of western Uttar Pradesh was much lower in comparison to eastern UP. In Meerut district the sex ratio was 885:1000.

For the age group of 0-6, it is 850:1000 in Meerut, 858:1000 in Muzaffarnagar, 850:1000 in Ghaziabad and 845:1000 in Gautam Buddha Nagar.

The census data reveal that while the situation in the western UP is grim, some districts in eastern UP have shown significant improvement in curbing the practice of female foeticide. Not only the baby girls but the women giving birth to them have also been killed in the state in the past.

Only recently, a woman had been strangled to death by her husband after she had given birth to their fifth female child. Incidents of wives being killed or thrown out after they gave birth to female babies have been reported from many parts of the state in the past few months indicating that girls are still considered to be a curse in the male-dominated society.