Compiled by OON JUN-YANG, ALLISON LAI AND R.ARAVINTAN
IT was a happy time for a family in India blessed with a boy after having 10 daughters, Makkal Osai reported.
His 10 sisters were apparently delighted with their baby brother Dilkush, which means “happy heart”.
The parents – Sanjay Kumar, 38, and his 37-year-old wife – hail from the northern state of Haryana and have been married since 2007.
However, their son’s birth had led to discussions about gender bias and the patriarchal mindset in that country.
Many netizens did not share the family’s joy and criticised Sanjay for putting his wife’s well-being at risk.
Her 11th pregnancy was classified as high risk and she required blood transfusions during the birth.
Sanjay explained that he simply wanted a brother for his daughters, adding that all his daughters are attending school despite his meagre income.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
