J’khand HC puts on hold abortion request of a minor rape survivor

THE COURT DIRECTED RIMS, RANCHI, TO FORM A MEDICAL BOARD FOR REEXAMINATION OF THE VICTIM ON SUNDAY

RANCHI: Jharkhand high court on Saturday put on hold an abortion plea of a minor rape survivor questioning the degree of risk involved in the termination of the foetus.

The 15-year-old Jamshedpur girl, daughter of daily wage earners, approached the high court after city hospitals refused abortion of the 23-week-old foetus.

The bench of justice Rongon Mukhopadyay on Saturday rejected the twin reports of the medical board, which examined the victim on Friday in Jamshedpur.

The report failed to address the court’s queries, especially regarding the degree of risk involved in the medical termination of a pregnancy in the second trimester.

The court, however, directed the state’s premiere hospital Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, to constitute a medical board comprising required specialists for re-examination of the victim on October 15 and submit a report at the earliest giving definite opinion about the risk-factor involved in medical termination of the pregnancy.

Earlier in the day, the judge carried out hearing in his chamber on the high court’s premises. Counsel, representing the government, submitted the medical board’s report which opined that the victim’s age was about 15 years old and the duration of pregnancy was about 23 weeks. The report highlighted as per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, medical termination of pregnancy can be done only upto 20 weeks.

Finding that the board didn’t clarify the risk factor involved in carrying out the abortion, the court asked the government lawyer to verify the same from the board.