New Delhi:
Abandoned by her family, a 19-year-old rape survivor, who is in the eighth month of her pregnancy, has moved the Delhi High Court seeking medical and financial assistance from the government to give birth to her child. She has also said she wants the state to take care of her child till the age of 18.
In her plea, the girl has said she hails from a very poor family and has added that one of the reasons why her family members abandoned her was because they were unable to meet the expenses required for her treatment.
The court has asked the Centre and the Delhi government to file their replies to the plea by today.
Appearing for the girl, her lawyers told the court that her family abandoned her due to social stigma.
"The victim is in a pitiable financial condition and cannot meet the expenses required for the delivery of child," they said.
The girl is now living in the house of one of her distant relatives. Her lawyers said she had earlier moved the court to terminate her pregnancy, but was advised by the doctors against it.
"The stigma attached to deliver a child without marriage causes grave mental injury to the petitioner coupled with financial scarcity. The pregnancy caused by the rape and to carry a child in the womb as a result of conception through rape is extremely traumatic but also humiliating," the plea states.
The girl was allegedly raped in October last year by her neighbour, who had threatened to kill her brother if she disclosed the incident to anyone.
Her lawyers have said she lodged a complaint with the police on March 4, but the accused is yet to be arrested.