Man struck his 11-year-old daughter in the head with a stone
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A man in central India allegedly bashed his 11-year-old daughter's head with a stone after she refused to quit school and sell firewood, the Times of India reported on Monday.
The young girl, who has been admitted to hospital, said the incident happened on Friday in a village in Betul district in Madhya Pradesh state.
She said that her father was against her attending school and used to ill-treat her for continuing her studies instead of selling firewood. Many times, she added, he would not give her food for an entire day.
Police were currently looking for the father who was missing, the report said.
Girls and women in India face a barrage of threats – including physical and sexual violence, trafficking, acid attacks and even murder – due to conservative patriarchal attitudes that view females as inferior.
Even within families, boys have more access than girls to nutrition, health and education services.
Reports of rape, dowry deaths, molestation, sexual harassment and other crimes against women in India rose by 6.4 percent in 2012 from the previous year.
The Indian police logged reports of 244,270 crimes against women in 2012 compared with 228,650 in 2011, according to the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB).
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