Forced Female Fetal Abortion Kills Another Indian Woman

 

Behrampur, Orrissa, August 01, 2012

Sujata Moharana was 4-month pregnant with her second daughter.  Her husband, Jagannath Moharana, decided he didn’t want another daughter, and forced Sujata to undergo an abortion.  Sujata died after profuse bleeding. Her father then filed a police report against her husband.  Report here.

 

Four Women Killed by Witchcraft in Jharkhand in Just One Month

Jharkhand, Bihar, May 12, 2012

Four women were brutally killed in a span of just over a month in Jharkhand due to the practice of witchcraft in rural areas.  The throats of these women were slit.  According to an official report from the Jharkhand Social Welfare Ministry, it is mostly widows or single women and families with no male members, that fall victims to this practice.  The ministry pointed out that the real motive behind the killings was usurpation of the helpless women’s movable and immovable property. Report here

 

Woman Brutalized For Bearing Daughters

Hyderabad, April 03, 2012

A woman who gave birth to two girls, had her third child another girl killed by her husband and in-laws who fed the child crushed tablets.  Then the wife was forced by her husband and in-laws again to abort three subsequent pregnancies apparently on the advice of a godman who said the woman would deliver a boy child only in her seventh pregnancy. The woman is now battling for her life at a private hospital as the forcible abortion is said to have infected her body parts.  Report here

More than 2500 Women Branded As Witches and Killed In India in 15 Years

 

In the last 15 years, more than 2500 Indian women have been killed in the name of witchcraft.  670 of these women were murdered between 2004 and 2005.  In 2005, I witnessed the persecution of Budhaniya Majhi in a village in Angara Block, on the suburbs of Ranchi.  Budhaniya Majhi was extremely fragile. Her face was bruised and bloated from beatings; she had been dragged naked through the village the previous evening. Welt marks showed where the sticks had fallen mercilessly on her slender frame.  Read the report here.

Burnt To Death For Giving Birth To Girls

Salora village, Maharashtra, October 19, 2007.

What initially was reported to be a case of self-immolation, later turned out to be cold-blooded murder. Sunita Rathod (30) from Salora village, Maharashtra, died of severe burns early on Thursday.  The incident was allegedly a fallout of frequent altercations between the couple over the issue of birth of girls—and no male child.  Report here.

Hanged for Giving Birth To A Girl

Gangoh, Uttar Pradesh, September 24, 2011.

Sania,  in Gangoh village was hanged and murdered for giving birth to a girl.  After she gave birth to the baby she was  tortured mentally and physically.  Police have registered a case against 11 people including the husband and his parents for hanging her to death.  Report here.