Allahabad HC allows termination of 12-year-old rape survivor’s pregnancy

• The Allahabad HC on Wednesday allowed a 12-year-old rape survivor to undergo a medical termination of pregnancy
• A bench of Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Prashant Kumar passed the order on a plea filed by the 12-year-old rape victim
• Advocate Raghav Arora, appearing for the minor, said, “On Wednesday, the medical report of the minor was produced before the court in a sealed cover

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday allowed a 12-year-old rape survivor to undergo a medical termination of pregnancy after taking into consideration the opinion of a medical board that the continuation of the pregnancy posed a greater risk to the physical and mental health of the girl given her "tenderness". age".

A bench of Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Prashant Kumar passed the order on a plea filed by the 12-year-old rape victim, who is also hearing and speech impaired, and sought to terminate her 25-week pregnancy.

The bench, after perusing the medical report, observed: "In view of the facts and circumstances and the medical report, it would be fair, legal and appropriate to order the termination of the petitioner's pregnancy after considering the medical evidence."

The Allahabad High Court then directed the District Magistrate, Bulandshahr, to ensure that the petitioner (minor) along with her mother appear at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh at 10 am on Thursday, where the Principal of the Medical College will ensure that her pregnancy is terminated. .

“We also direct the Director of the Faculty of Medicine to ensure termination of the petitioner's pregnancy and the said exercise is to be carried out in the presence of the Head of Obs & Gynae of the Faculty of Medicine. We further appeal to the director of the medical faculty to provide the victim with adequate post-operative medical facilities free of charge and to submit a report within three days so that the court can proceed with this matter.” The Allahabad High Court ordered to list the case on July 17 for further orders along with another medical report of the petitioner on a later date.

Earlier on Tuesday (July 11), the High Court noted that in the case of sexual assault, denying a woman the right to say no to medical termination of pregnancy and binding her to the responsibility of motherhood would amount to denying her "human right to live with dignity" because she has the right in relation to her body, which includes saying "yes or no" to being a mother. The court said that a woman cannot be forced to give birth to a child of a man who sexually assaulted her and forcing a victim to give birth to a child of a man who sexually assaulted her would lead to inexplicable suffering.

Advocate Raghav Arora, appearing for the minor, said, “On Wednesday, the medical report of the minor was produced before the court in a sealed cover. However, when it was opened, it was not in accordance with the rules. Then, considering the urgency of the matter, the court adjourned the case for an hour and ordered the defendant authorities to submit medical reports within an hour as required by law."

He added: “Later, a new medical report was presented to the court in which the doctors advocated medical termination of the pregnancy, saying that the continuation of the pregnancy posed a greater risk to the physical and mental health of the minor due to her young age. 12 years."