Bombay HC exasperated over volume of abortion pleas

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has expressed exasperation at the increasing number of petitions being filed seeking termination of pregnancy beyond 20 weeks of conception. The court's opinion was based on the fact that in the last three months there have been 35 such cases. The court said that it was swamped with other cases to hear and the government should constitute a permanent committee to look into such applications.

It chided the petitioners' lawyer and asked whether she was making a business of such petitions. The court was hearing the petition of a 16-year-old rape victim who is 22-weeks pregnant and that of a 29-year-old, seeking termination of her 24-week pregnancy. After hearing five applications in two days, the division bench of Justices Naresh Patil and Girish Kulkarni sought to know from government pleader (GP) Abhinandan Vagyani and additional GP Kavita Solunke the reason beh-
ind the spike in such applications. The HC sought to know why a mechanism had not been put in place to identify anomalies anomalies in the foetus before 20 weeks.

The HC sought to know why a mechanism had not been put in place to identify anomalies anomalies in the foetus before 20 weeks as mostly cases pertained to defects when sonography was done after 20 weeks.

 Justice Patil also said that as the court's procedure involved consulting a committee comprising experts from government hospitals, a permanent committee could decide directly. He asserted the need for a multi-pronged strategy by the state as the HC is now inundated with such petitions, which get preference, thus hampering other cases.  

In the case of an applicant, who is a minor rape victim, the issue became a bone of contention between the state and the applicant; the HC directed the state to make sure that all such applicants have birth certificates appended with the petition. The court also directed KEM Hospital and Sassoon Hospital to form committees to examine the applications of the 16-year-old and 29-year-old applicants and submit reports within two days so that the court can pass order.