The painful memory of baby Neha Afreen’s murder at the hands of her father still remains fresh in the minds of Bangaloreans. As a mark of protest against the April murder, more than 250 people took to streets on Saturday and shed light on the mistreatment meted out to girl children in the country.
Those who took part in the Global Walk for India’s missing girl children passed through Mosque Road, through Fraser Town to Coles Park, and did their bit to create awareness of girl child abortions taking place in the country.
“The current girl-boy ratio in India is 908:1,000. This is the lowest it has been since the independence. It is slightly better in Karnataka with the ration being 914:1,000. We are very concerned about this issue,” said Jacqueline Colaco, the event organiser, who is also the honorary treasurer for the Association of People with Disability.
Colaco pointed out that it was important to hold a mirror against the public and make them understand the causes of the problem.
“Every year, in India, 7,000 baby girls are literally being ‘done away with.’ The girl child is still being viewed as a burden in many parts of our society. We still have dowry harassments in the country, and that is one of the contributing problems,” she added.
She also said that doctors also play a role by encouraging ultrasounds in pregnant women and this leads to abortions, if the couple wants to do away with the girl child.
Only change of hearts and attitude will put an end to this problem. “What we want to do is to get people to educate their girl children. This way, girls can also become the earning members of the family. Like men, they too will be on an equal footing in life,” said Colaco.
Vigil for Afreen
The walk not only tried to raise awareness of the skewered girl child ratio in the country but also honoured the life of Afreen. A vigil was held in honour of Afreen and her family as well as “all the girl children who suffer every year.”
“It was not that only 250 people took part in this event. We walked very slowly through the streets to drive home the point. We wanted people to register what we were trying to say. So, now, at least a 1,000 people in the city knew what we were doing,” she added.
