Kerala High Court Comes To Aid Of Another Minor Rape Victim: Allows Termination Of Pregnancy

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday came to the assistance of another minor rape victim by allowing her father's petition and paving the way for her to undergo medical termination of her pregnancy which was a result of the sexual assault committed on her.

This is the third such order passed by the Court within the past week.

In the earlier two cases, the victims were more than 26 weeks pregnant and based on the recommendations received from the respective Medical Boards,  termination of the same was permitted.

However, in the instant case, the 16-year-old victim was only 8 weeks pregnant and had approached the Court citing that the private hospital she had approached for terminating the pregnancy refused to carry out the procedure citing that a crime had been committed.

The Government Pleader said that the permission of the Court was not required in the instant case as under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, a pregnancy of less than 12 weeks can be aborted by a medical practitioner if he or she is of the opinion that continuing with it would be detrimental to the mental and physical health of the victim.

Subsequently, the Court directed the girl's father to approach a government hospital with a copy of the order in the instant matter for carrying out medical termination of the pregnancy.

With the direction, the plea moved by the victim's father seeking permission for medical termination of pregnancy was disposed of.