The Delhi High court on Friday directed the medical board at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital to examine the woman seeking termination of her 33 weeks old fetus suffering from abnormality.
Case Summary
The petitioner is a 26 years old married woman, who is pregnant for 33 weeks and approached to the High court through advocates Prachi Nirwan, Pranjal Shekhar and Yaseen Siddiqui.The petitioner defined that she has undergone regular ultrasounds and no abnormality was reported. It was the first time on November 11 when the abnormality in the brain of the fetus was found. On November 14 another ultrasound was confirmed by the doctor.
She approached the Guru Tegh Bahadur hospital. Her request qua the termination of her pregnancy on the premise that the said process shall require judicial intervention since the current gestational age of the Petitioner is beyond the permissible limits i.e. 24 weeks as per the Amended Act effective from September 24, 2021.It is submitted that the limitation as provided under the said Act i.e. 20/24 weeks is not applicable to the case of the Petitioner as attributed by Section 3(2B) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 since the fetus borne by the Petitioner carries substantial cerebral abnormalities, as a result of which grave mental injury is being caused to the Petitioner herein.
Court Observation
Justice Prathiba M Singh directed the medical board at Lok Nayak Jay Parkash hospital to the petitioner today itself. The court has also directed to file a report on Sunday (December 4) to the court and said that the matter will be listed at the top of the board on Monday.
The court said, “In view of the gestational age of the fetus and abnormality it has, the medical board at LNJP to conduct an examination and file a report.” The bench also noted the submission made by advocate Aneesh Madhukar’s counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner has approached the GTB hospital but the examination could not be conducted as the medical board has not been constituted there.
The counsel for Delhi Government submitted that the petitioner might be referred to AIIMS or LNJP where the medical boards are already constituted. After noting the submissions the bench directed LNJP to conduct an examination and file a report.
