The Bombay High Court today permitted a 12-year-old rape and sexual assault survivor to medically terminate her pregnancy - a result of the assault - despite the pregnancy being beyond the permissible 20-week-limit and the foetus having only minor abnormalities.
A vacation bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and Abhay Ahuja took note of the mental anguish and trauma the girl will have to undergo if forced to continue the pregnancy for a full term.
It also cited an April 2019 order passed by another Bombay High Court bench, which had held that if a pregnancy posed injury to a woman's mental health, forcing her to continue with it will be a breach of her fundamental right to life.
The 2019 order had "correctly held that in a situation where continuation of pregnancy poses grave injury to the physical and mental health of the mother, the pregnant mother could not be forced to continue with the pregnancy merely because it had extended beyond the ceiling of 20 weeks", the bench said.
"The same would be a serious affront to fundamental rights of such mother to privacy, to exercise reproductive choices, and even to her bodily integrity as also dignity," Justice Kathawalla's bench quoted from the 2019 order.
The vacation bench was presiding over a plea filed by the girl's father.
It noted that the survivor is currently at the state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai where a panel of doctors had examined her and concluded that while "only minor anomaly is detected in the foetus of the pregnant minor mother", she "is anguished with the pregnancy".
The JJ hospital panel had also told the High Court that continuing with the pregnancy is likely to have an adverse psychological impact on the minor.
The High Court vacation bench further noted, in the present case, the medical board had also clearly opined that the girl is anguished with the pregnancy and its continuation may lead to complications during labour.
"It is further opined the continuation of such an unwanted pregnancy will have physical and mental stress to minor as well as have a psychological impact," the court said, directing the JJ Hospital authorities to provide counselling and requisite medical aid to the victim and to perform the MTP procedure."
The bench also directed the Maharashtra government to immediately place the FIR registered in the rape case, the survivor's medical report and other related documents before the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to ensure that she is provided compensation and aid promised under the state's 'Manodhairya' scheme.
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