An Indian girl (Copyright: picture-alliance/dpa)

For the first time, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi utilized his social media presence and fan following to bring about awareness on the delicate subject of female feticide in the country.

Human Rights Watch has urged Bangladesh to scrap a proposed legislation that calls for lowering the legal marriage age of girls to 16. Child marriage rates are very high in South Asia, with Bangladesh topping the list.

Sitawa Nanda, 41, is now fighting for the betterment of Devadasi women and hoping that women do not ‘sacrifice’ their daughters to this regressive practice that continues surreptitiously. (© DW/Murali Krishnan)

It is an ancient religious practice that still traps young girls in India in a life of sexual exploitation.