Schoolchildren join the rally in Golmuri on Sunday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, March 7: On the eve of International Women’s Day, a pledge was taken to save the girl child and spread awareness against female foeticide and infanticide.

The message was spread through “A Walk for India’s Missing Girls” organised by Catholic Mahila Sangh of Jamshedpur. The rally kicked off from St. Joseph’s Welfare Centre in Gomuri. About 700 girls and women participated in the walk, shouting slogans to protest against killing of girl children.

“A Walk for India’s Missing Girls” was inspired by Petals in the Dust: India’s missing girls documentary team led by filmmaker Nyna Pais-Caputi. The walk is a peaceful global protest against killing of baby girls in the country. Caputi has collaborated with Nobel Peace Prize nominee James Garrow to launch a global campaign against the malpractice. The rally was held in eight cities across the world — New Delhi, Mumbai, San Francisco, Ontario, Dublin, Pondicherry, Kuwait and Jamshedpur.

“Female foeticide and infanticide is a social malaise that exists everywhere. Be it the illiterate or the learned, people have a typical mindset against girls. Hence, we thought to organise the walk to raise a voice against these hedious crimes,” said Nikunj Francis, the president of the Catholic Mahila Sangh.

Various institutes, including XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, participated in the walk. The rally wound its way through ABM College and Masjid road before culminated at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, where a discussion on preventing female foeticide and infanticide was also held.

“It was a noble cause that we wanted to support. Thus, students from Social Initiative Group for Managerial Assistance (SIGMA) and CII Young Indian chapter joined in,” said Ruchita Kanwatia, a senior executive member of SIGMA, XLRI.