Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has allowed the termination of the 28–29-week fetus of a sexual assault victim through the applicable medical intervention.
The court recognized the severe mental trauma suffered by the victim and her inability to comprehend or cope with childbirth.
The court observed that the right to life guarantees a life free from mental trauma. The court stated that it is the obligation of the state to take all necessary steps to ensure that citizen lives free from worries, according to his or her own standards of life. The court directed the Director of Health Services to arrange for the victim’s admission to a hospital for the procedure.
In this case, the petitioner, the mother of the minor victim, filed a writ petition on behalf of her daughter, who is mentally challenged and carrying an unwanted pregnancy of 28–29 weeks due to sexual assault. During the course of the investigation, the victim was placed in a shelter home. The petitioner, through her father, sought court intervention to allow the termination of the pregnancy.
A bench of Justice Mohd. Yousuf Wani instructed the Social Welfare Department to bear all medical and care expenses of the victim and, if the baby survives, to arrange for lawful adoption. The court further directed the District Legal Services Authority to initiate compensation proceedings for the victim under the relevant victim compensation scheme.
The fundamental right to life of a person available under Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees a life which is free from mental trauma and worries. It is the obligation of the state to take all steps for ensuring that a citizen within his own standard of his life lives free from worries. Not only the minor victim but her entire family and all her nears and dears are supposed to be labouring under trauma, it was held.
The court cast a duty upon the UT of J&K, through the Health and Social Welfare Departments, to take care of the petitioner victim until she is discharged from the hospital and handed over to her parents, and if the child is born alive, until the child is safe from any complications and the adoption procedure is completed.
The court passed the above directions after noting that the minor victim had been diagnosed with Mild Intellectual Disability (MID) and was deemed to be suffering from grave mental injury. The court stated that due to her mental condition, she was unable to express her pain and anguish. The court also noted that the guardian of the victim had been desperately requesting the termination of her pregnancy.
The court observed that in a rural, conservative society, the chastity of a female is considered very important from the perspective of marriage, and society often views unchaste women with abhorrence, notwithstanding the fact that such a situation may have arisen due to a forceful sexual assault and without consent.
The court relied on the case A (Mother of X) vs. State of Maharashtra & Anr, SLPL (C) No. 9163/2024, wherein the court exercised its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to permit the termination of the pregnancy of a minor rape victim who was 28 weeks pregnant.
