The Judges of the Supreme Court and the Chennai High Court,participating in a function ‘On the Rights of the Girl child’,have critically analysed the declining trend of women population in India over the years, which clearly shows the ‘Second Class Status For Women in India’.
According to Justice Sathasivam of the Supreme Court of India,in the year 1990,there were 25 million more men than women in India, in 2001, 35 million more men, and by 2011 in our next census,there would be 50 million more men than women population in India.
As pointed out by the statistics provided by four judges, out of the 75 million malnourished children, 75 % were girls,over six million foetuses had been aborted in the last 20 years,three lakh more girls died than boys in the age group of 1 to 6, 25% of the girls did not live upto the age of 15 and only 39% of the women were literate.
According to Justice.Raveendran of the Supreme Court of India,despite of a plethora of laws and judgements of the Supreme Court of India to prevent discrimination of the girl child -from sex-selective abortion to child labour, sexual exploitation,domestic violence and dowry etc, but none of the judgements or acts were used effectively.According to him, something needs to be done drastically to address the roots of the evil, before proceeding to implement the laws for the cause of women.
According to the Hindu Succession Act, 2005, in order to protect the women from dowry harassment,women were made eligible to rightfully make a claim over the family properties.The right to education should be made available to all, to empower women with education and women should achieve their rights through ballot boxes, holding their representatives accountable.
Justice Prabaha Sridevan, highlighted the strategies of the Indian Council for Child Welfare,to prevent infanticide, health care for girl children,forming of self-help groups to effectively implement the strategies, take care of the abandoned girl children, educating girl children, anti and post natal camps for women,counselling for pregnant women etc.
According to the Chief Justice of the Chennai High Court,Justice A.P.Shaw,though there is law enacted in Tamil Nadu to levy fine from the parents who have not sent girl children to school, that provision has not been implemented in Tamil Nadu.The purpose of educating a girl child is not only to empower her with rights but also to enlighten her surroundings. "For every year when a girl child go to school beyond fourth grade, her family size shrinks to 20 %,child death drops by 10 % and wages rose by 20 %". Therefore, the secret of uplifting the women, lies in educating the girl children.
The above statistics provided by the eminent people who are at the highest strata of judiciary, reveals the actual state of women and the social imbalance prevails in India.