New Delhi: Overruling a medical board of AIIMS, Delhi high court on Monday permitted a minor sexual assault survivor to terminate her over-26-week pregnancy, noting it was “not difficult for this court to comprehend the grave mental trauma and deep injury inflicted” on the girl due to the assault, reports Abhinav Garg.Justice Manoj Jain directed the medical superintendent of AIIMS to carry out the procedure on Tuesday, as per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act norms.Court considers survivor’s favour and physical fitnessHC termed her case “unfortunate” and noted she was subjected to not one but two sexual assaults by different men.AIIMS, in its report, said its medical board was not in favour of allowing the termination of pregnancy in view of the advanced gestational age, which would most likely require a caesarean section procedure that could adversely affect the girl’s future reproductive health. However, the board opined she is otherwise physically fit.
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Justice Jain then spoke to the girl to first verify her informed consent and explained the potential risks entailed in carrying out the procedure, including the possibility that she may never become a mother again. Despite this, the survivor and her mother remained adamant about ending the pregnancy.The court weighed in the survivor’s favour despite the gestation period having crossed 24 weeks, “keeping in mind the fact she is a victim of sexual assault” and her “physical fitness to undergot to know, she confided in them about the sexual assault, leading to the filing of an FIR.While police arrested the accused of the March crime, the man who assaulted her last year is yet to be arrested, the court was informed.HC cited precedents, including that of Supreme Court, in which pregnancy was allowed to be terminated in cases where the gestational period exceeded 27 weeks and even 33 weeks and asked AIIMS to maintain a complete record of the procedure aside from preserving the fetus tissue, which could be required for DNA identification and investigation purposes. The court further directed the state authorities to bear all the expenses of the medical procedure, the girl’s stay at the hospital, and the expenditure of post-operative care.“If the child is born alive, the medical superintendent of AIIMS, along with state authorities, shall ensure that every assistance is offered to such child and intimation will be given to the Child Welfare Committee,” the court specified, so that the child can be sent for adoption.(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
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