Supreme Court recalls order allowing minor who had been raped to have abortion

The Supreme Court on Monday recalled its April 22 order allowing a minor who had been raped to have an abortion, reported Live Law.

The court issued a new order after the 14-year-old survivor’s parents expressed concerns that she could suffer health complications if her pregnancy was terminated.

The bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra privately discussed the matter with the child and her parents through video conferencing in the chambers and conveyed to her that their earlier order needed to be recalled as the “interest of the child is paramount”.

The parents said that they would like to take their daughter home and have her deliver the baby.

On April 22, the top court had ordered that the child be allowed to terminate her pregnancy.

Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Rules, abortion is permitted up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Women and minors who have been sexually assaulted, raped or impregnated through incest can abort the foetus at up to 24 weeks.

The plea on the minor’s behalf argued that she had found out about her pregnancy very late.

The first information report in the case of the minor’s rape was registered on March 20, after the permissible 24-week limit. The accused has been booked under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

“These are very, very exceptional cases where we have to protect the children, as every passing hour is very crucial for her,” a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said on Monday.

The bench had on Friday directed Mumbai’s Sion Hospital to immediately determine if the pregnancy could endanger the physical or mental health of the girl or the foetus. The hospital’s medical board on Monday said that the “continuation of pregnancy against the will of the minor may impact her physical and mental well-being”.

The board also said that the threat to the girl’s life was not higher than what it would be if her pregnancy was carried to term.

The court then directed the dean of Lokmanya Tilak Hospital in Mumbai to appoint a team of doctors to carry out the abortion and also directed the state government to pay for the procedure.

The mother of the 14-year-old girl had moved the Supreme Court on April 4, after the Bombay High Court rejected her request for an abortion. She argued that her daughter’s earlier examination by the medical board of Mumbai’s Sir JJ Hospital, which the High Court had relied on in its ruling, was not conducted properly.

Setting aside the High Court order, the Supreme Court said that the “urgency of the situation and the welfare of the minor was of paramount importance”.