HC : Rape victim can’t forced to give birth

Recent Developments

On Tuesday, the Allahabad HC, while considering a plea to terminate a 25-week pregnancy carried by a 12-year-old who was raped, held that a woman cannot be coerced or forced to give birth to the child born as a result of rape. 

The Allahabad High Court further stated that to burden the responsibility of motherhood on women who are sexually assaulted or molested leads to a violation of their right to live with dignity, further resulting in unexplained miseries. 

The Allahabad HC Bench composed of Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Prashant Kumar. They further stated that a woman has the right to say yes or no to being a mother and accepting motherhood while expounding about the aforementioned case.

The judgement passed by the Allahabad High Court further outlined that in the case of sexual assault, denying the right to medical termination of pregnancy and burdening a woman with the responsibility of motherhood would amount to denying her human right to live with dignity as she possesses the right to her body, which includes the choice to select whether she wants to be a mother or not. Further stating that Section 3(2) of the MTP Act reiterates the right for women to chose whether they want to be mother or not.

The main issue that the court was facing was whether it could allow a plea for abortion made by a 12-year-old rape victim who was deaf and mute and whose pregnancy had exceeded 24 weeks, which is the permitted time limit in MTP Act. 

Case at hand

In the aforementioned case, the minor girl was repeatedly rape and sexual assaulted by her neighbour. However, due to her inability to speak, she could not convey her order to anyone for a long time. After a long time, when the mother of the victim inquired about the same, the victim narrated her ordeal through sign language and disclosed that she had been raped by her neighbour. 

Her mother then filed an FIR (First Information Report) for rape and other offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). When the victim was medically examined, she was found to be 23 weeks pregnant; thus, a plea was requested on June 27 to the Medical Board to allow abortion of the victim’s pregnancy. The Medical Board has further stated that since the pregnancy exceeded 24 weeks, the Court’s permission would be required to allow the abortion of the same. 

 MTP Act

The HC, while outlining the case’s factual matrix, noted that there are provisions in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTP Act) that specifically lay down rape and minority of the mother as the grounds to allow termination of a pregnancy until 24 weeks. Additionally, the act also provides for a presumption that the rape victim’s mental health is severely affected by the pregnancy resulting from rape;

While acknowledging that the HC ordinarily permits termination of pregnancies at 24 weeks, it pointed out that an exception can be made in cases where significant foetal abnormalities are detected. It pointed out that the Constitution, including the Supreme Court of India, allows termination of pregnancies after 24 weeks in exceptional cases.

HC’s direction

Taking a humanitarian approach while deciding the matter and providing urgency in the said matter, the HC decided to order a medical hospital to examine the child within a day and asked it to submit the report in a sealed envelope by July 12, 2024.