Gujarat High Court: In a special criminal application, wherein the father (‘petitioner') of 17-years-old minor rape survivor was seeking termination of pregnancy of over 20 weeks of his minor daughter, Single Judge Bench of Samir J. Dave, J., allowed for the medical termination of the pregnancy of the minor girl with all due care and precautions.
In the matter at hand, the petitioner was seeking issuance of appropriate writ or direction to terminate the pregnancy of the minor girl after carrying out necessary medical checkup to avoid any likelihood of harm to the mental and physical health of the minor victim. The petitioner was also seeking directions to handover the tissues from the fetus for DNA identification to the Police Inspector for onward transmission of the same to Forensic Science Laboratory.
In the previous order dated 31-05-2023, the Court had directed the Medical Officer of Civil Hospital, Bhuj to complete the examination of mental and physical condition of the minor girl and ascertain if any, risk factor is involved in termination of pregnancy. In pursuant of this order, the victim was examined by the panel of Doctors of Gujarat Adani Institute of Medical Sciences, G K General Hospital Bhuj, and the Doctors opined that the girl is in good general condition for conducting medical termination of pregnancy and the same should be proceeded at the earliest to avoid any complication associated with the advancing gestational age of the girl.
Therefore, considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the Court allowed the present petition and directed the respondents to undertake the necessary medical procedure, with all due care and precautions, for the medical termination of pregnancy. The Court directed that the medical termination of the pregnancy should be undertaken at the earliest possible time considering the mental and physical health of the girl.
[XYZ v. State of Gujarat, 2023 SCC OnLine Guj 1661, Order Dated: 7-06-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Applicant: Advocate Dakshesh Mehta, Advocate Rushang D Mehta
For the Respondents: Assistant Public Prosecutor JK Shah
