After hearing the submissions, the bench asked the state-run hospital to admit her and asked the expert panel to submit their report by Wednesday, when it will hear the plea next.THE BOMBAY High Court Monday directed the state-run JJ Hospital to admit a 26-week-pregnant 14-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped by a relative, and form a medical board to examine her based on the provisions of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971.
It asked the medical board to give a report on or before Wednesday on a plea filed through her father for termination of her pregnancy.
On Monday, advocates Tanveer Nizam and Mariam Nizam for the petitioner mentioned the plea before a vacation bench of Justice Madhav J Jamdar and Justice Kamal R Khata seeking urgent hearing on the same.
The lawyers submitted that in November last year, the minor’s relative started living with her family as her mother was unwell and during that period the relative had allegedly sexually abused the victim during the night and threatened her of dire consequences if she was to reveal her ordeal to anyone. After her mother was admitted to hospital, the victim and her younger brother had to stay at the accused relative’s residence and the last incident of sexual assault took place on May 25, this year.
On October 8, the victim complained of pain in her stomach after which her father found out that she was pregnant. The complaint was lodged on October 22 and the FIR was registered on October 24 for offences punishable under Section 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
The plea argued that if a 14-year-old goes through with her pregnancy, the same would cause “immense trauma and stress on her mental and physical wellbeing,” and therefore the same be terminated. The plea said the victim wishes to study further and to force her to carry pregnancy to full term would infringe her right to life with dignity provided under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The lawyer submitted that the petitioner’s daughter was at JJ Hospital at the time of hearing and tests are being conducted on her.
After hearing the submissions, the bench asked the state-run hospital to admit her and asked the expert panel to submit their report by Wednesday, when it will hear the plea next.