A 15-year-old rape survivor moved the Delhi High court on Monday seeking to terminate her over 26-week pregnancy after the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) refused to conduct the abortion of the minor.
A 15-year-old rape survivor moved the Delhi High court on Monday seeking to terminate her over 26-week pregnancy after the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) refused to conduct the abortion of the minor.
A bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice PS Teji sought a reply from the Centre and the Delhi government following the plea. It also directed the officials of AIIMS to present before the court the medical opinion rendered by them.
The bench also directed that since the co-ordinate bench of Justice S Muralidhar and Justice I S Mehta has been dealing with this matter, so it be listed before the concerned bench after taking orders from the Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal.
The matter came up for hearing after it was urgently mentioned in the court. According to the plea filed through her father, the minor sought urgent directions to allow her to medically terminate her pregnancy.
The plea, filed through advocate Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, said the victim was missing since March 31 after she left home following an altercation with her mother. An FIR in this regard was lodged on April 1 at the Sarita Vihar police station. A habeas corpus petition was filed on November 21 following which she was recovered on November 26.
The accused was arrested a day later on November 27 from Narora village, district Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh.
The plea alleged that the police’s version of the minor eloping with the accused is false. On the account of the ordeals as narrated to her parents, the plea said that she was taken away by a woman who further sold her off to a family in Etah, Uttar Pradesh allegedly to be married off to a handicapped person. A fake court marriage was conducted following which she was made to live with the family.
On her recovery, the minor had refused to go with her parents following which she was sent to Prayas Juvenile Home. However, her parents were allowed to meet her. A few days later, she visited her parents and expressed her desire to terminate the pregnancy.
On December 8, the Child Welfare Committee (South East District) recorded that the child is pregnant and wants to terminate her pregnancy and therefore referred her to AIIMS. However, it was informed to her on December 15 that she is not allowed to terminate the pregnancy.
“The petitioner is before this Hon’ble court not only to seek an order directing termination of her own pregnancy but to pass a specific guideline with regard to the termination of pregnancy of any rape survivor specifically if minor whatever may be the age of the foetus,” the plea stated.
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