Humiliated, Assaulted and Prostituted for having Daughters, Mother of Two Seeks Justice and Dignity

Published on 14 April 2022

Abused, disowned, prostituted, and shamed—one can only imagine the horrors Sunita*, a 26-year-old mother in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, had to endure at the hands of her husband, Roshan*, all because she was expected to 'give' him a son!  

Sunita and Roshan got married in April 2010. After trying for a year, they had their first child, a girl, in December 2011. Instead of jubilation at the birth of the new baby, Roshan and her in-laws’ demeanor towards Sunita altered drastically overnight.  

"They asked me how I dared to deliver a girl. They wanted a boy," said Sunita. “My husband did not see any value in me anymore. He even invited his friends to sleep with me in exchange for money.” Roshan and his parents were so infuriated that Sunita failed to give them a son that they abused Sunita and her daughter for years because of this. 

Encouraged by his parents, Roshan also married another woman and now has a son with his second wife.  

Sunita gave birth to a second daughter in May 2017. This was the last straw for Roshan. He went as far as threatening Sunita to abandon the two daughters or face dire consequences. There were even plans to sell Sunita and her daughters off into sex trade. 

Sunita and her daughters

For Sunita, her daughters’ safety was the utmost priority. She had wanted to escape for a long time, but she had no support or income to rely on. Her own parents disapproved of this decision. In early 2018, with incredible resilience and bravery, Sunita mustered the courage and finally ran away from her marital home with her two young daughters. Determined to build a better life for them, she found a job as a salesperson and found a house to rent. 

Sadly, even after Sunita was separated from her husband, the harassment did not end. Roshan and his second wife found various ways to humiliate and hurt them. They edited fake obscene photographs of Sunita and her daughters and circulated these doctored images along with Sunita’s personal contact details on WhatsApp and Facebook, resulting in terrible hardship for Sunita and her young daughters. 

Desperate, Sunita reached out to ADF India allied lawyers for help. She has filed a private complaint in the Dhanbad court, and an FIR has been lodged against her husband and those involved. Our allied lawyers are working to ensure she has the protection she and her daughters so desperately need.   

“As a team, with many who themselves are parents to daughters, ADF India is standing firm with Sunita and her daughters to ensure that they receive justice”, said Adv. Rajlakshmi, ADF India allied lawyer. 

In India, women face extreme societal pressure to produce a son. Mothers bear the full brunt of the scorn and shame that arise from the birth of a girl child. Many face violence or abandonment in terrifying degrees, as seen in Sunita’s case. Many are still silent.  

The Child Sex Ratio in Jharkhand has dropped from 965 females per 1,000 males in 2001 to only 948 in 2011 as per government census. This clearly exposes daughter-aversion in the state. While the birth of a son is welcomed with distribution of sweets, fanfare and festivities, the birth of a daughter is considered a curse and attracts ridicule and even assault. 

LEGAL AID AND PREGNANCY HELPLINE 

ADF India provides free legal assistance through our panel of allied lawyers to women whose unborn girl children face in any way a hindrance to L.I.F.E (Love, Inheritance, Freedom, Equality). To know more, please visit www.adfindia.org/legal-aid.  

You may also call the pregnancy helpline at 0444 631 4300 or visit www.pregnancyhelpline.in 

SUPPORT 

We invite you to join us in defending the life, liberty and the inherent dignity of women like Sunita and her daughters. To support our work, donate here. Your financial gift today will transform a life tomorrow. 

*name has been changed to protect the privacy of individuals 

Raise Your Hand

25th November is celebrated as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. At first thought, one can think of only two topics that comprise Violence against Women: domestic violence and rape - and (unfortunately) many times, they happen together. But when you think deeper about it, and realise how prevalent this issue is in our country, across classes, you understand that SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTION IS VIOLENCE TOO!

It is the first (and the last) experience of violence for many unborn girl children. Their sex is illegally detected and they breathe their last even before their first cry. And it's not just an act of brutal violence against the child, but the mother as well, as her body goes through the unnatural process of abortion, which, in many instances, is absolutely against her will, and wreaks havoc on her physical and mental health.

And this heinous and diabolical practice of SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTION is what ADF India's Vanishing Girls campaign advocates and fights against.

Here's what Vanishing Girls is asking you to do through the 16 days between 25th Nov & 10th December to raise awareness about SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTION as violence against women.

We want you to get on your social media network, on IG, reels, FB, WhatsApp statuses, and #RAISEYOURHAND.
Raising one's hand is not just a metaphor for violence, but a way of voicing your opinion.

SO FOLLOW THESE STEPS
1. Draw an orange female icon symbol on your hand (Orange is UN's colour of choice for the observance) or us this Instagram filter
2. Get creative with what reel you choose to show that symbol: take on any trend that's floats your boat (we're sending some references)
3. Post it on IG, FB using #RaiseYourHand
4. Tag @Save_Our_VanishingGirls, and we'll repost your content