'Sense of urgency not lackadaisical attitude,' Supreme Court on Gujarat HC deferring termination of pregnancy plea

The Supreme Court on Saturday came down heavily upon the Gujarat High Court for deferring a plea for termination of pregnancy of a rape victim for 12 days, saying such cases should be dealt with some sense of urgency not with a lackadaisical attitude.

Holding a special sitting, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan sought a fresh report from medical board at Bharuch to ascertain the possibility of removal of foetus.

The court put the matter for consideration on Monday.

The counsel for the victim submitted the High Court posted the matter on August 23 by which her pregnancy would become 28 weeks, even though the matter was filed on August 7 and heard on August 11.

He also submitted that the HC's order was not even available on record.

"How can we even pass an order if the impugned order is only not there. Valuable days have been lost in just postponing this case. See, in such cases there must be a sense of urgency and not a lackadaisical attitude. We are sorry to make such remarks. We will list it as first matter on Monday," the bench said.

The court further said since valuable time has already been lost, a fresh report may be sought from the medical board at Bharuch.

"We direct the petitioner to appear before KMCRI to be examined once again and the latest status report may be submitted to this court by tomorrow evening by 6 PM. Same shall be put up before this court on Monday. The matter shall be taken as the first item on board," the bench said.

The woman petitioner came to know of her pregnancy on August 4 and she filed the writ petition before the High Court on August 7, her counsel said.