Jaipur, Nov 6 (IANS): Two female foetuses have been recovered from different places in Rajasthan, one floating in a dam and another from a sewer pipeline, police said Sunday. The state's sex ratio is a dismal 883 girls between the age 0-6 for every 1,000 boys.
First Information Reports (FIR) have been registered by the police on suspicion that the foetuses were dumped by unidentified people after illegal sex determination showed the unborn babies to be girls.
The recovery of the foetuses has once again brought to the fore the dismal state of the girl child in the state which is suffering from a skewed sex ratio.
According to police, some residents Saturday evening spotted a foetus floating in Nandsamand Dam in Nathdwara police station area of Rajsamand district, some 340 km from state capital Jaipur. They informed the police.
"The foetus of a girl child was five-month old. We have registered a case against unidentified people for female feticide. Cases of female foetus being recovered from the dam have been reported in the past too," a senior police officer told IANS.
Another foetus was recovered from a sewerage pipeline in Revdar village of Sirohi district, about 430 km from here.
"The foetus was taken to the nearby government hospital where doctors said that it was a four-month-old foetus. A case has been registered and we will question nearby residents if any of them saw someone dumping the foetus. Nearby nursing home employees will also be quizzed," a police officer said.
According to Census 2011, Rajasthan has 883 girls between the age of 0-6 for every 1,000 boys. The child sex ratio in 2001 was 909.
Alarmed over the state's skewed sex ratio, the state government recently announced steps to curb pre-natal sex determination tests at ultrasound clinics.
The steps include increasing the number of health department inspection teams and equipping them with devices like hidden cameras and voice recorders.
The state government has also increased the amount of money given to a person who complains about errant ultrasound clinics.