23-01-10. Gujarat High Court on the S G highway in Ahmedabad. Photo by Kevin Antao.
Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court on Monday allowed a 12-and-a-half-year-old rape survivor from Devbhumi Dwarka district to terminate her 25-week pregnancy.
The court asked doctors to explain the risks involved, as the pregnancy had advanced beyond 24 weeks, said the survivor’s counsel, Dipmala Desai.
The HC directed the hospital authorities to “provide all necessary medical infrastructure, including reserving a dedicated special room for the victim and her family, ensuring continuous psychological support and counseling throughout her admission”. Justice M C Tyagi directed the medical authorities at GG Hospital in Jamnagar to terminate the pregnancy and ordered, “Obtain a written undertaking from the victim authorising her consent to conduct the procedure at her risk. The court directed the authorities to make arrangements for the child’s adoption in the event of a live birth, if the family was unwilling to keep the child. It also directed the principal secretary of the department of health and family welfare “to provide immediate nutritional, travel, and incidental medical requirements. And to bear all medical expenses incurred toward the termination procedure, in-patient stay, medication, nutritional requirements, and complete postpartum care for both the victim and the child for a minimum period of six months.”
Noting that an FIR had been registered under the Pocso Act against an accused and that the investigation was underway, the court ordered, “Preserve and seal requisite fetal tissue samples strictly in accordance with standard medical and scientific protocols for DNA profiling, and hand them over to the investigating officer for onward transmission to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).”