'Bearing child a fundamental right': Woman moves Madhya Pradesh HC to seek husband's release from jail

Jabalpur: A woman has filed a petition in the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking her husband's release from jail saying she wants to bear a child, and cited procreation as her 'fundamental right'.

While hearing her plea, the high court directed the dean of the government-run Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College in Jabalpur to constitute a team of five doctors to examine whether the woman petitioner is medically fit to conceive or not, the government's counsel said on Wednesday.

The high court passed the order on October 27 on the writ petition filed by the woman, government counsel Subodh Kathar told PTI.

'The husband of the petitioner is in a jail in some criminal case and she wants to conceive, for which she has claimed her fundamental right for procreation as per the High Court of Rajasthan order in case of Nand Lal Vs. State, Department of Home, Rajasthan, Jaipur and others,' he said.

The petitioner has sought the release of her husband from jail for the purpose, the counsel said.

Kathar, however, said the woman has passed the age of menopause as per her records and therefore there is no possibility of any conception either naturally or through artificial insemination.

The petition was heard by a single judge bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal.

In its order, the court said there is a requirement of a medical report from a team of expert doctors as to whether the petitioner is medically fit to conceive or not.

She (petitioner) is directed to appear before the dean of the college on November 7, it said.

The dean shall constitute a team of five doctors - three gynaecologists, one psychiatrist and another endocrinologist - to examine whether petitioner is fit to conceive or not. The dean shall submit the report within 15 days, it added.

The court has fixed the next hearing in the case on November 22, the counsel said.