SC seeks report on plea to abort 10-yr-old rape survivor’s pregnancy

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine in Chandigarh to examine a 10-year-old child rape victim, on July 26, who is into her 26th week of pregnancy, and submit a report whether the pregnancy can be terminated or not.

A bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked the member-secretary of the Legal Services Authority of Chandigarh to visit the girl’s parents and take the child to the hospital on Wednesday for examination.

He was also asked to submit a report to the court in a sealed cover on July 28 whether the health of the child would be adversely affected if she was allowed to continue the full term of pregnancy or the foetus could be aborted.

The bench passed this order after advocate, Alakh Alok Srivastava, took the child’s plight to the court seeking its intervention after the doctors refused to terminate the pregnancy, caused after being repeatedly raped by her own uncle in Chandigarh.

According to the petitioner the doctors treating the girl are of the view that her pelvic bones are not fully developed due to her tender age and, therefore, tolerating a full-term pregnancy at this tender age is very risky.

According to the petition the parents of the girl who are very poor had earlier approached the Chandigarh District Court for permission to terminate the pregnancy but the trial court on July 18, dismissed their plea. Termination of pregnancy beyond the 20 weeks period is an offence in India, punishable with punishment ranging from three to seven years.

The petition quoted one Dr Umesh Jindal, a gynaecologist and a member of the ‘American Society for Reproductive Medicine’ that the pregnancy of the said girl should be terminated in the peculiar facts of the instant case to save her life.

The petition also urged the Supreme Court to frame guidelines for setting up a permanent mechanism and for constituting permanent medical boards at each district for expedient termination of pregnancies beyond 20 weeks in exceptional cases particularly involving child rape survivors under the best possible medical facilities.