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Bombay High Court rejects plea for medical termination of pregnancy by ‘rape victim’

The woman had approached the HC earlier this month. The Legal Aid department had arranged a lawyer. The court observed the woman could have approached the court in an earlier stage of pregnancy for relief.

Bombay High Court rejects plea for medical termination of pregnancy by ‘rape victim’ Bombay High Court (Express Photo by Pradeep Kocharekar/Files)

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has rejected the plea for medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) of a 32-year-old woman from Buldana district, who had claimed she had conceived the baby after rape by her employer.

The HC bench comprising Justice Shantanu Kelkar and Justice Nitin Sambre rejected the plea following recommendation by a committee heeded by Indira Gandhi Medical College dean Anuradha Shrikhande that the MTP runs the risk of life as pregnancy is in an advanced stage of 30 weeks and the baby is in fine condition. The panel observed that she had two C-section operations earlier and a third operation would be risky for her life at this stage of pregnancy.

The woman had approached the HC earlier this month. The Legal Aid department had arranged a lawyer. The court observed the woman could have approached the court in an earlier stage of pregnancy for relief.

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The woman is married but had been left by her husband along with two kids, a seven-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son. She was allegedly raped by a man with whom she was employed. She had lodged a police complaint against the man in September 2017.

She claimed that she realised late about her pregnancy, an argument the HC didn’t accept. She had also contended that she was staying with her mother and was finding it difficult to eke out a decent living for them and hence would be unable to take care of the third child. Also, the child would face social problems being born out of rape, she had claimed.

First uploaded on: 29-03-2018 at 05:05 IST
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