In the news: “Dowry demand forces woman to end life”

“Dowry demand forces women to end life” ,  The Times Of India, May 23, 2010.

Dowry related cases continues and women either commits suicide or she is set ablaze by her husband and in-laws.

In the news: “2 newly-wed women found dead; dowry harassment suspected”

“2 newly-wed women found dead; dowry harassment suspected”, The Times of India, May 8, 2010

“Two newly married women died under mysterious circumstances in separate incidents in the city on Thursday. In both the cases, the relatives of the women have alleged dowry harassment and raised suspicions of murder. Police have booked dowry harassment cases against the husbands of the two women.”

In the news:”‘Honour killings’: what needs to be done”

‘Honour killings’: what needs to be done, The Hindu, April 26, 2010

“Three weeks after District and Sessions Judge Vani Gopal Sharma sentenced in Karnal, Haryana, five persons to death and awarded life imprisonment to one person in a 2007 case of ‘honour killing,’ three incidents of a similar nature have been reported in the State.

The writing is on the wall but the khaps are clearly not prepared to give up. Incensed by the role of the news media, which took the implications of the trial court’s landmark judgment to places far and wide and created awareness among the people, the upholders of a reactionary, anti-human tradition gathered in large numbers at Kurukshetra on April 13 to redraw their strategy.”

Article: “Eve Teasing: Girl Commits ‘Suicide’

Peeyush Khandelwal, “Eve Teasing : Girl Commits ‘Suicide’ “, The Hindustan Times, May 2, 2010.

A Class XII student from Shalimar Garden area in Ghaziabad allegedly commited suicide on Saturday morning.  She was allegedly subjected to eve-teasing for over two years by men in her neighbourhood. No arrests were made till Saturday evening and the accused were absconding, police said.

Article: “12 yr old girl tortured & filmed by students of NMIMS”

Bapu Deedwania and Yogesh Sadhwani, RR Patil jumps to save girl in NMIMS YouTube scandal, Mumbai Mirror, April 29, 2010.

12-year-old girl who was tortured and filmed by students of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) college. A week after the two management students were arrested by D N Nagar police for the incident and let out on bail, child rights activists have decided to take up the matter with the state home minister.

Article: “A reality: child abuse by burning”

DR. K. Mathangi Ramakrishnan, A reality: Child abuse by burning, The Hindu, April 25, 2010.

Is it a reality in India? Is the girl child a welcome guest in every household? It is not in several families. Take the story of baby Pushpa (not the original name) who was born to a young couple six years ago.

A close relative of the father paid substantial sums of money to the midwife, who usually gives baby bath to do away with the child if it was a girl. Delivery took place at midnight and the newborn girl baby was immersed up to the waist in boiling hot water during baby bath.

“Jaise dal mein kankad…” (Like small stones in your dal…)

In Mr. and Mrs. 55, the hero’s sister tells the heroine that it is the wife’s duty to take what the husband dishes out, just as we deal with small stones that may remain in our dal. Anupam Srivastava reports on a study in Uttar Pradesh which suggests that people still think this way: ‘My husband beats me, he has the right…‘, Hindustan Times, August 22, 2008.