Experts allow 14-yr-old rape victim to abort

The 14-year-old rape victim from Gujarat, who has been allowed to abort the 25-week-old foetus by a Supreme Court medical expert panel would undergo an abortion on Friday.

“The team of doctors has given permission to abort pregnancy of the 14-year-old. They would begin the medical process of examination by 9 am. It would take 24 to 36 hours post that to abort the pregnancy. There appear no apparent complications as of now,” Civil hospital Medical Superintendent Dr M M Prabhakar told Deccan  Herald.

The Supreme Court had on July 28 ruled in favour of the teenager, who had been denied permission to abort by the sessions as well as the Gujarat High Court on the ground that law permits abortion only till 20-weeks of pregnancy.

The apex court had observed that she can undergo an abortion if medical experts permitted her to undergo an operation. “This is an unprecedented judgment by the Supreme Court which is path-breaking as Supreme Court has gone beyond statute and stated that given the facts of the case, danger to life of the girl child, the foetus can be aborted even if it is beyond 20-weeks,” said Anand Yagnik, the girl’s lawyer. The minor had become pregnant after allegedly being raped by her doctor Jatin Bhai K Mehta, when she visited him to get treated for typhoid in February this year.

“The apex court has set a precedent also by looking in to the aspect that courts took almost over four weeks to hear and pronounce the order. It has said that the girl cannot be blamed for the delay, which is significant,” he added.

“Moreover, the girl here is minor and did not understand the repercussions. The ordeal she has undergone is tremendous and so she could not share it with her parents earlier.” Anand said that the girl too has been maintaining that she was too young to give birth to a child and she wanted to complete her studies.

Initially, the bench of Justices AR Dave and Kurian Joseph had said it would not like to do something which is contrary to law.

However, the bench later directed the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital authorities to get senior gynaecologists and clinical psychologist to examine the girl and if they do permit, then the girl could be operated upon with the consent of the victim and her parents. The apex court also observed that the abortion may not be carried out if there was a “serious threat” to her life.

It has also directed a DNA test of the foetus to aid in the criminal trail of the rape. The teenager’s father had first moved the sessions court seeking termination of pregnancy, saying she was in no position to take care of the child. Later, the Gujarat High Court too turned down his request stating that though it had sympathy with the victim, it could not grant permission.

Other pleas
This is the third case that has attracted attention in the last three months, wherein Gujarat High Court had refused permission for abortion sought by rape victims. In one of the cases, a married woman was apparently abducted and gang raped by seven men. She became pregnant and sought permission of Gujarat High Court to abort her foetus. As she was  24-weeks pregnant, the court denied her permission.

In a another case, a mentally challenged girl was raped. When she was admitted to the hospital for mentally challenged, the doctors there found that she was pregnant. However, as she was less than 20-weeks pregnant, she was allowed to undergo abortion by Gujarat High Court.