'SC should consider rape victims' plight'

Mumbai: The Supreme Court (SC) in August last year ordered for the report of an expert committee comprising doctors from the state-run JJ Hospital while hearing a petition seeking permission to abort the over 20-week-old foetus of a 12-year-old rape survivor from Mumbai. The doctors had said that the foetus was abnormal and the girl was not ready for motherhood biologically, but the apex court rejected her plea, stating that the baby could be ‘born alive’. The girl had later delivered, but the baby boy expired after a few days.

The girl’s lawyer, Sneha Mukherjee, said, “The apex court should consider such cases in which the foetus is abnormally formed, especially in cases of rape survivors and minors.” The family refused to talk about its ordeal.

The survivor’s father’s helper had raped the girl, who was 27-weeks pregnant at the time the family filed the petition seeking the medical termination of the pregnancy.

Dr Nikhil Datar, who helped the girl’s mother file the petition, said, “Her condition was not normal, at such a tender age her organs are not fully developed. Her vaginal opening is too small and the mental trauma that she is going through is frantic.”

Throwing light upon the psychological impact on girls in such cases, child psychiatrist Dr Ali Gabrani said, “First, the psychological condition of the minor is totally damaged as she is under shock; and if she stays that way, it would influence her psyche.” He said, “It will create a nuisance in her future too as society may create problems for her.”