Mahapanchayat in Haryana: Female foeticide amounts to murder

By Dilip -
Jind, Haryana: A big step seems to have been taken in possibly correcting Haryana's skewed sex ratio. The Mahapanchayat or meeting of village councils that congregated in Jind today has found unanimity and proposed that female foeticide should be treated on par with homicide and murder. 

At least 200 Khap or caste council leaders from Haryana and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Delhi were part of this meet.  There were about 100 women from various villages attending with at least 20 of them sharing the stage with the men.  The women were allowed to offer their opinion on the issue and various other issues affecting them. CDs talking about the ills of female foeticide were also distributed to the people attending the meet.  At the outset itself some leaders present announced that the meet was to clear some of the misconceptions associated with Khaps. 
 
The Mahapanchayat proposal that female foeticide equals murder and should be a punishable offence would be considered a welcome move given the draconian fashion in which some village Khaps are known to function. This was brought to focus once again after the Khap in Baghpat; also the home constituency of Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh ruled that women must cover their heads when they step out of their homes. They also ordered that women younger than 40 must not leave their homes at all after sunset..
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/mahapanchayat-in-haryana-female-foeticide-amounts-to-murder-243255?pfrom=home-topstories

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