Denying Woman Right To Terminate Pregnancy Akin To Denying Dignity: Allahabad HC Directs Medical Examination Of Rape Victim
The Allahabad High Court while dealing with a Petition under Article 226 directed the Aligarh Muslim University to constitute a medical board and determine the condition of the Petitioner. The Petitioner was raped by her neighbor and got pregnant.
A Division Bench headed by Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Prashant Kumar held that “In the case of sexual assault, denying a women right to say no to medical termination of pregnancy and fasten her with responsibility of motherhood would amount to denying her human right to live with dignity as she has a right in relation to her body which includes saying Yes or No to being a mother.”
The Court further added that “the extraordinary powers of the Constitutional Courts, however, have been recognized even by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and exercised several times by the High Courts to allow termination of pregnancies even in cases where pregnancy has exceeded the limit of 24 weeks.”
Advocate Raghav Arora appeared for the Petitioner while Chief Standing Counsel Ambrish Shukla appeared for the Respondents.
In the case, the Petitioner, a minor girl of 12 years old was raped by her neighbor. She is suffering from disability and cannot speak or hear. FIR was registered Sections 376, 354C IPC and Sections 3, 4, 7, 8 of POCSO Act against the accused. Upon realizing that the Petitioner is pregnant, the mother of the Petitioner moved to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for terminating the pregnancy.
Upon medically examining the petitioner through a board of doctors, the board held that the pregnancy can be terminated only after a Court order since the victim is pregnant for 25 weeks. Section 3 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules, (MTP) 2021, allows termination of pregnancy only upto a period of 24 weeks. The Petitioner approached the High Court for relief
The High Court while examining the provisions of the MTP said that “Though the statute does not provide for termination of pregnancies over the gestational age of 24 weeks except in case of detection of substantial foetal abnormalities, the provision in regard to which is Section 3(2B) of MTP Act, the extraordinary powers of the Constitutional Courts, however, have been recognized even by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.”
Further, the Court directed the Aligarh Muslim University to conduct a medical examination of the victim and said that “we request the Vice Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University to direct the Principal, Jawahar Lal Medical College, Aligarh to constitute a Five Members Team headed by Department of Obs & Gynae; Department of Anaesthesia and Department of Radio Diagnosis to examine the petitioner” and provide the report in a sealed cover to the Court.
Accordingly, the High Court listed the matter for the next hearing on July 12.
Cause Title: Ms. X v. State Of U.P and Ors.