PM seeks society's support in fight against rape, foeticide

Expressing deep anguish over rising incidents of crime against women, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech strongly pleaded with families to help curb the menace of rape and female foeticide by changing their mindsets and reject gender bias.

The prime minister urged parents to take responsibility of their sons as much as their daughters, saying: “After all, a rapist is also somebody’s son. He also has parents.”

“When we hear about the incidents of rape, we hang our heads in shame. People come out with different arguments, someone indulges in psychoanalysis, but I want to question parents,” said Modi.

He said parents repeatedly question their “daughters of 10 to 12 years” but do not do the same with their sons. “Parents ask their daughters hundreds of questions, but have any parents ever dared to ask their son where he is going, why he is going out and who his friends are?” Modi questioned.

The prime minister urged for every parent to impose as many restrictions on their sons as they have on their daughters. “Just try this out,” he appealed.

Modi also attacked practices like female foeticide and promised strict action against it. “The law will take its own course. Strict action will be taken. But as a member of the society, as parents, we also have some responsibilities,” the prime minister said.

Speaking against the mindset which encourages the practice of killing girl children, the prime minister said: “With advancement of science, we have a rising feeling of modernity in our mind, but what do we do? Have we ever thought about the sex ratio in this country? For every 1,000 boys, 940 girls are born. Who is creating this imbalance in society?”

He slammed doctors who indulge in female foeticide for money and urged them not to encourage such a menace.

The prime minister urged parents to also reject the notion that they need sons to take care of them in their old age. He said he has seen rich sons sending parents to old age homes and found daughters staying unmarried to take care of parents.

“We will have to liberate ourselves from it, and that is the message to us for this freedom festival.”

“Recently Commonwealth Games were organised. Our sportspersons brought 64 medals. But of them 29 are women,” he added. The prime minister also spoke about adequate sanitation facilities for women in rural areas and separate toilets for girls in schools.