Mumbai: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay Excessive Court docket has refused permission to a 17-year-old woman to abort her 24-week being pregnant, saying it was the results of a consensual relationship and the infant can be born alive at this stage. A division bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Y G Khobragade, in its order on July 26, famous the woman would flip 18 this month and that she was in a consensual relationship with the boy since December 2022.
The bench in its order stated the sufferer woman and the accused boy had developed bodily relations a number of instances. The woman herself introduced a being pregnant equipment and confirmed the being pregnant in February this yr, it famous.
“Due to this fact, it seems that the petitioner sufferer is just not harmless and she or he was having full maturity of understanding. If the petitioner was not to hold the being pregnant she may have sought permission for termination quickly after affirmation of the being pregnant,” the HC stated.
The woman had filed the petition within the HC by way of her mom, searching for to terminate the being pregnant claiming she was a “little one” throughout the that means of provisions of the Safety of Kids from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Underneath the Medical Termination of Being pregnant Act, a court docket’s permission is required to terminate being pregnant past 20 weeks, whether it is discovered the being pregnant poses a menace to the life or well being of the mom or the kid.
The plea claimed the being pregnant would trigger grave damage to the psychological well being of the petitioner who needs to review to turn out to be a health care provider in future.
The excessive court docket took be aware of a report submitted by the medical board after analyzing the sufferer woman, which stated there was no anomaly within the foetus and the expansion was regular.
The medical board opined {that a} little one born if being pregnant is aborted at this stage would present indicators of life, however wouldn’t be able to impartial survival.
“If a child is born alive even after forcible supply contemplating the request of the mom to terminate the being pregnant then it will result in an under-developed little one with probabilities of deformities,” the HC stated.
The bench stated it was not inclined to allow termination of the being pregnant as in any case, the kid goes to be born alive and the pure supply is simply 15 weeks away. If the woman later needs to place up the kid for adoption she is at liberty to take action, the excessive court docket stated, including if the infant is delivered at full time period, then there can be no deformity and the probabilities of adoption would brighten. The bench additionally stated the woman might be lodged at some social organisation which takes care of such pregnant ladies until she delivers the infant.