Family and Community As a Perpetrator of Violence Against Girl-Child - a Study in Selected Districts of Haryana(India)

There is nothing new in the phenomenon of family violence on the girl child because it has existed in almost all societies throughout history for a variety of reasons. What is rather recent is the realisation and recognition that it is one of the most significant, widespread and major socio-psycho-ethical as well societal problem. It is rediscovered that in the family itself there is much violence on the girl child, the parents themselves are, to a great extent guilty of curbing the mental and physical growth of the girl by the discrimination they practice. The declining sex- ratio in- directly reveals the practice of family violence against the girl child in the respective societies.  In India the sex-ratio has shown an almost continuous decline from 972 in 1901 to 933 in 2001.  In almost all the Indian states sex-ratio is adverse to female but in few states and cities the situation is really alarming. Haryana  which is known as  one of  the prosperous Indian  states  and  placed among the top five indian states in terms of its GDP growth(8.6%) . But on the other side its continuously declining sex-ratio indicates the lower status and conservative attitude towards women and girls in the particular society. What are the different types of violence and discrimination practiced against the girl child in the family and community? How the girl children feel towards these discriminatory practices? These are some of the issues which would be discussed in this research paper. This study was conducted in four districts of Haryana state of India. The techniques employed for data collection were Interview, Observation, and Case- Studies. Total 200 mothers who had children of both sexes and 120 Girl-Children of ‘7-18’  age group were being interviewed.