Indian women forced to have 5 abortions because in-laws did not want female child

Even after bringing the rule of not letting know the gender of the child before its birth, people are getting to know about the same. Worse, they are forcing to abort the child if its a girl.

Read On..

A pale Amisha Bhatt, 33, stood out in the crowd of rural women from over 15 districts of Gujarat who had gathered at Town Hall to participate in a public hearing of cases of violence against women. The public hearing was organized by Mahila Adhikar Abhiyan.

As women narrated their tales of rape, domestic abuse, Amisha's body shook as she relived the horror of repeated abortions and physical abuse she was subjected to by her in-laws in their obsession for a male heir.

Currently residing with her parents in Vastrapur, Amisha says that she was subjected to six abortions over eight years, the last being early this year. In between, she gave birth to a girl Kamya, who was saved because Amisha went to her parents' house because she took ill.

Amisha is currently fighting a legal battle with her husband and in-laws for forcible termination of pregnancies, physical and mental abuse and has claimed maintenance.

Amisha was married to Priyavadan Bhatt from Anand in year 2000. She says her torture began the day she conceived her first child. "My in-laws were obsessed with a male child. My elder brother-in-law has two daughters and the family wanted me to give them a male heir. My first pregnancy was terminated in August 2001 after sonography tests revealed it was a girl," says Amisha.

"When I was pregnant the third time, I had gone for a wedding where I fell ill and was packed off to my parents' place. This is how I gave birth to a girl child Kamya," says Amisha.

The pressure only increased after Kamya's birth. "After that, I was forced to undergo three more abortions, two in Vadodara and one in Godhra," says Amisha.

Early this year, she was thrown out of her house. "My mother-in-law said she would get another daughter-in-law who would give birth to a male child," says Amisha.

She is now under the care of Yogakshem, an NGO providing legal assistance, and is currently taking computer classes to stand on her feet. "The government has created lot of awareness about saving the girl child but the guilty need to be punished to serve an example. We have filed complaint under PC-PNDT Act against the doctors with district health officers but they have not been arrested yet," says RR Shukla of Yogakshem.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 9 December 2009