Not to commit female feticide – An Additional Step – Eighth Step in Hindu Weddings

In Hindu Weddings, the groom takes his bride's hand and the couple begin their ritual seven steps around the sacred fire – now some couples are adding an eighth step a promise and commitment to not to commit female feticide. This important step will go a long way in stopping sex selective abortions – the murder of female child before her birth by parents often forced by in-laws and relatives.

Womensnews reports 

“Time for the saptapadi," the priest announces. The groom takes his bride's hand and the couple begin their ritual seven steps around the sacred fire. (Saptapadi means seven steps in Sanskrit and is an important part of Hindu weddings.)

The first step is for togetherness…, with the seventh step the circumambulation of the fire is nearly complete, but the couple add an impulsive eighth step, solemnly making an extra promise of their own. "We promise," they say, "not to commit female feticide."

Aug. 8 became a landmark in fighting discrimination against the girl child, when the Delhi administration decided to request couples registering their marriages to take a voluntary vow not to resort to female feticide, reported a story in the English-language Deccan Herald.

Rohan Hanjura and Poonam Kunjur opted to take this vow and took home an extra certificate from the magistrate's office, according to the article, attesting to this promise, along with their marriage certificate. Within a month over 70 bridal couples had taken such a vow in Delhi alone. And the movement is spreading.

In the rural village of Dharampur in the western state of Rajasthan, Santo Devi likewise took an extra step at her marriage promising to treat sons and daughters as equals. Given her setting, her break with tradition is bold and cause for more applause than the initiatives by couples in urban Delhi. 

In the state of Rajasthan "macho" images are widely exalted through mythological and socio-cultural traditions, and temples are built in honor of women who burnt themselves as sati on their husbands' funeral pyre in a display of conjugal loyalty.

Gynecologist Dr. Shantha Gopal told me that although sex determination tests continue to be requested and performed, the rules governing the use of ultrasound technology are being tightened to prevent female feticide. 

Usha Mane, 26, opted for the extra "eighth step" too at her wedding, which took place in western India in September. She made the decision, a staffer for a girl child advocacy group told me, after reading media reports about this initiative promoted by government officials.