Kin in despair post Bombay HC order

Mumbai: The Bombay high court’s Monday order disallowing a minor rape survivor to medically terminate her pregnancy has plunged the family into despair and darkness. “We came for justice, but justice is not what we got,” her father said. The victim’s father said that he is “very upset” with the high court order and is worried about future of his daughter, who according to him, is “equally disappointed” with denial of permission to abort the foetus.

The girl, a 17-year-old Solapur resident was abducted and forced to marry her maternal cousin, who allegedly sexually assaulted her.

“I travelled so far to come to Mumbai because I was hoping to get relief from the court, but I didn’t get justice,” said the father, adding that he was worried as to what will happen after the delivery of the baby and where should he keep them.

According to him his daughter, the victim, would be attaining majority in a few months so he was worried about her future.

Speaking on this issue, the government pleader, Kavita Solunke, who appeared before the division bench of Justice N.H. Patil and Justice G.S. Kulkarni, on behalf of the government, said, “The court decided to disallow the application of medical termination of the pregnancy and also premature delivery of the baby because if the child is delivered prematurely, there is a danger to the life of mother and due to premature delivery the child would be required to be kept in medical surveillance till the infant becomes healthy enough for a normal life.”

According to her, the court also took into consideration that the family doesn’t want to keep the baby and if the baby suffers from some illness, there may be difficulties in giving up a sick child for adoption.

The girl along with her father had approached the court, seeking permission to terminate the pregnancy, saying that nine youths had abducted the victim and she was forced to marry one of them, who was also her cousin.

The petitioner’s father had contended before the Bombay high court that the victim was mentally and physically unable to take care of any child due to her tender age and particularly as the case is one of sexual exploitation.

Abort but conditions apply

Section 3 in The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 speaks about the conditions in which a lady is allowed to terminate her pregnancy medically. Some of the conditions where MTP is allowed include; if it does not exceed twenty weeks but for this too if not less than two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury to her physical or mental health. Or there is substantial risk that if the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.

In January the Bombay high court allowed a woman from Mumbai to abort her 28-week-old foetus after doctors found it had severe abnormalities. The court took into consideration the mental trauma the mother was likely to suffer post pregnancy and the risk to the child's health, among other factors.

In May the vacation bench of the Bombay high court had allowed a minor rape survivor to terminate her 24-week pregnancy, considering her “tender age” and the fact that she had already suffered enough trauma.

In May the Bombay high court had allowed a woman to terminate her 25-week pregnancy after the doctors opined that foretal MRI indicated poor prognosis of survival and there was a chance that the baby may not survive after birth in spite of best efforts.

In June the Bombay high court had refused to allow MTP of a 20-year-old woman, who claimed to be a victim of domestic violence and wanted to terminate her 21-week pregnancy.