The Gujarat High Court (HC) has refused permission for a 14-year-old rape victim to abort her baby. The girl’s father had filed a petition with the court seeking permission to medically terminate the pregnancy.
Justice Abhilasha Kumari refused permission on the ground that the existing law does not allow termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks. In this case, the pregnancy was in the 24th week.
The judge also directed the Sabarkantha district administration to take care of the victim and pay her compensation of Rs 1 lakh.
The victim’s father, a resident of Himmatnagar town of Sabarkantha district, had moved the HC last week seeking permission for abortion.
The petition said the girl was raped by a doctor whom she had visited in February for typhoid treatment. The doctor administered her injection of a sedative and raped her after she fell unconscious, it said.
The doctor has been arrested and a case registered against him.
But meanwhile, what of this 14-year-old girl, probably studying in class 9, not only dealing with the trauma of rape, but even teenage pregnancy in a society who will be harsh with her? There can be no balanced upbringing for a child born from a traumatising act.
Oddly enough, legal experts say that the law does allow for medical termination of pregnancy up to second trimester with the guardian’s permission for minors.
Also, last year, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare proposed an amendment to the Act on abortion (Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971) to allow abortions up to 24 weeks with court consent for special cases.
So clearly, this is medically possible. Even if the amendment has not been passed yet, a court is well within its bounds to permit an abortion after consultation from medical experts.
It is a disturbing thought that the court, strictly adhering to the letter of the law, seems to have given no thought to how such a young child will raise a baby or the trauma which such a judgement will bring upon her. The court, too, hasn’t given any directives regarding the baby, leaving it up to the family to figure out a way.
A similar judgement was passed last year by the Gujarat HC on another case involving the rape of a minor girl and abortion of her baby. She was not permitted to abort as she was 21 weeks into the pregnancy.
In April this year, the Gujarat HC told a 28-year-old gang rape victim who had applied for abortion to ‘bravely go ahead and deliver the child’.
In what can only be considered as insult to injury, the ruling judge JB Pardiwala added, “I am conscious of the fact that to carry a child in the womb after an act of rape is not only extremely traumatic for her, but also humiliating, frightening and psychologically devastating. In Indian society, she becomes an object of scorn and can be ostracized. The applicant will have to bravely go ahead with the pregnancy and when time comes, she should deliver the child. I am conscious of the fact that it is easy for a judge to say so in his judgment, because it is ultimately the applicant who will have to face hard days ahead. Yet, howsoever harsh one may find the law, it remains the law and one has to respect it”.
Even if the permission has been denied out of consideration for the victim’s health, the legal system has to come up with a proviso that makes the situation less painful for victims and families concerned. Once again the onus is upon the woman, not to mention the child, who will grow up in the shadow of this heinous crime. It is undoubtedly callous of the judiciary to simply law down the law without actually providing the injured party a way out of their difficulties. This is not justice, it’s just law enforcement.
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