Southern States - Kerala   

`Female foeticide rife in Malappuram, Kozhikode'

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM May 21. The chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Poornima Advani, has said there are clear indications of the prevalence of female foeticide in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.

At a press conference here today, she said the ratio of female children to male children below the age of six years was significantly lower in these two districts than in other parts of the State. This could be, quite obviously, due to selective abortion of pregnancy.According to the latest census, there were only 963 female children for every 1,000 male children in this age group in these districts. She said she was told that the authorities in the State were studying the reasons for this low ratio.

``I fear that the chief medical officers, saddled with many responsibilities, would not be able to give the required attention to the problem. Obviously, there has to be an exclusive mechanism to check such a serious trend. The State Government should have an appropriate authority specifically to act against female foeticide,'' she said.

The chairperson of the State Women's Commission, M. Kamalam, too was with Ms. Advani during the press conference. Questions on the alleged atrocities committed against Adivasi women at Muthanga brought of extremely divergent perceptions of the two panels.

While Ms. Advani reiterated her position that the police had misbehaved with several Adivasi women taken into custody following the Muthanga action, Ms. Kamalam said such complaints had not come before her. Ms. Kamalam said: ``We had conducted adalats to receive complaints, if any, regarding the police action at Muthanga. How can we come to such a conclusion in the absence of any complaint. If something that should not have happened had occurred there, the Chief Minister should inquire into it and take strong action. This is our position.''

To another question, Ms. Advani said it was unfortunate that the police had prevented the Adivasi Gothra Sabha leader, C. K. Janu, from attending a seminar the other day. ``The police had acted like that only because of instructions from above,'' she said.

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