When health workers recently tallied the number of births in a district in northern India, they made a disturbing discovery. Of the 216 babies born in 132 villages in the district of Uttarkashi in the past three months, all were boys.

How could it be that not a single girl was born in that period, given that the natural sex ratio is roughly 105 males for every 100 females, according the World Health Organisation? Local officials have created a task force to discover the reason. But some think the answer is obvious. “It cannot be just a coincidence,” a social worker told the Indian broadcaster NDTV. “This clearly indicates female foeticide is taking place in the district.”