MUMBAI: Aamir Khan’s TV debut ‘Satyamev Jayate’ started with a motto ‘Jab dil pe lagegi, tabhi baat banegi.’ (When it touches your heart, solutions will follow). With the intention of creating awareness, the actor has managed to reach many hearts through the show.
First the Rajasthan Chief Minister and Chief Justice, next the Lok Sabha, and now on a micro level – a ‘Sarpanch’ (Head of village) in Rajasthan. Moved by the first episode of the show, the Sarpanch has decided to register police cases against women and families who go for tests to detect and abort the girl child.
"Illegal sex determination is rampant in the Shekhawati region – Jhunjhunu, Churu and Sikar districts. After watching Aamir Khan’s TV show ‘Satyameva Jayate’ on female foeticide, I felt that awareness in Rajasthan is not enough. Checking female foeticide at the village level is necessary to save girl children. If a woman is found involved in illegal sex determination and abortion of a girl child, an FIR will be filed against her with the police. If she is forced to abort by her in-laws, similar action will be taken against them also" Singh said.
This Rajasthani village is home to some 5,000 people. Randheer Singh said a six-member committee had been formed to keep a tab on pregnant women. He explained that auxiliary nurses and midwives knew about almost every pregnant woman in villages. According to the 2011 census, Rajasthan has 883 girls in the 0-6 age group for every 1,000 boys. The child sex ratio in 2001 was 909.
