Gujarat HC refuses permission for abortion in rape victim’s case

While rejecting the petition Justice Abhilasha Kumari noted that the pregnancy of the victim has crossed the permissible limits for granting termination as per law.

The petition said the girl was raped by a doctor whom she had visited in February for treatment of typhoid. The petition added that the doctor injected a sedative and raped her after she fell unconscious. “The parents are yet to decide if they want to approach higher forum”, the teenager’s lawyer, Pradip Bhate, told AFP.

The police subsequently arrested the doctor and he is now in custody. They are still considering taking the case to a higher court.

The victim, who has not been named, is more than 24 weeks pregnant, and is now studying in high school in the Sabarkantha district in north Gujarat, in the west of the country.

This is the second such case in four months in the state wherein a rape survivor unsuccessfully knocked on the HC’s doors for abortion.

The Judge also directed the Sabarkantha District Administration to take care of the victim and pay her compensation of Rs. The child would likely be given up for adoption with the aid of local NGOs.

The Gujarat High Court dismissed a petition filed by the father of a 14-year-old rape victim seeking permission for termination of her pregnancy. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act does not permit abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. When she escaped, she was already 28 weeks into her pregnancy-too late for an abortion, the court said. She delivered the child but refused to accept the newborn which was taken into the government’s custody the day it was born. “Humanity and society should assist, her and others like her, in this regard”.

But the month before, a court did allow for an abortion to be carried out in the case of a 15-year-old girl raped by a man who had gotten in a fight with her father. The judge specifically mentioned that the girl’s education must continue.