Karnataka HC rejects rape victim's abortion plea

The Karnataka HC, in a one of its kind decision, decided to reject the abortion plea of a 15 year old rape victim, who had sought the abortion after the 26^th week of her pregnancy.

Justice A.S Bopanna presided over the case and in one of the previous hearings, the HC had directed for a thorough medical checkup of the victim to get a better idea of the situation. The HC wanted to know whether the abortion plea is valid or not. The medical board, constituted by the judge, in its final report stated that “ termination of pregnancy is not advisable...”

The medical board comprised of doctors and medical practitioners from the Vani Vilas Hospital in Bangalore and the report was presented in court during the last hearing and it noted that the pregnancy was in the 26^th week. The MTP Act only allows for termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks. Adding to this fact, the medical board also noted that the “ general condition of the mother is not warranting termination as there are no detectable life threatening conditions.”

The medical board also made sure to check therapy victim's medical history and stumbled on some really important information. Therapy victim had undergone a successful termination of pregnancy in the past 11 months and is again pregnant. It was also noted down that victim in question had reported to the doctors at six months of amenorrhea for Medical Termination of Pregnancy.” Also added in the report was this- “ no life threatening congenital anomalies have been detected in the fetus and the fetus is healthy and viable the victim is in a sound state of mind.”

The victim's mother, a daily wage laborer was left fuming after the verdict and has made her disagreement very visible. She had reported the incident and had lodged a complaint with the police to March 15, 2016. The complaint stated that a Hanumanthappa had allegedly raped her daughter last year after taking her away from the hostel where she was staying.

The victim's mother was misguided by the doctors earlier and she has also clearly expressed her frustration with the doctors too. She had approached the High Court after doctors at K.C. General Hospital, Bengaluru, said the law does allow termination of pregnancy at this stage.

OUR TAKE

The HC's decision is a wise one indeed. The law states that 20 weeks is the maximum limit for carrying out the termination of pregnancy. What really is mind boggling is the fact that even after getting the complaint registered about the rape, the mother only realized about the consequences much later. A timely handling of the situation from both parties & ndash the family and the doctors & ndash could have set the case on a different trajectory. In a similar case in Gujarat back in 2015, the HC had in a similar fashion rejected the abortion plea of a 14 year old girl. But at the same time the HC had directed everyone in the community to support her in her fight against the injustice she had to face. The judgment perfectly summarizes the feelings that the Karnataka HC echoed. “ She, too, deserves to be educated, dream her dreams, and, in times to come, have a home and family of her own, just like any other young girl. Humanity and society should assist, her and others like her, in this regard,” The case is highly unfortunate but the law prevails.