An Indian BBC correspondent writes:

If our baby is a girl – her arrival is likely to be greeted, by some, with condolences. A friend – delighted with his new daughter soon became infuriated at comments that his home had been cursed with a girl.

“Relatives arrived laden with gifts of sweet meats,” he said. “They cuddled her and shook their heads at our misfortune.”

These are attitudes engrained in many sections of Indian society. More than 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in India in the last two decades.

The prospect of paying a dowry and knowing a daughter could never generate the income of a son is enough for some families to commit murder.