‘Protect her honour, dignity’: Karnataka High Court allows 26-week pregnancy termination of minor rape survivor

The Karnataka High Court has allowed the medical termination of a minor’s 26-week-old pregnancy as a result of sexual assault and highlighted that the court should not hesitate in protecting her “honour and dignity“.

Justice R Nataraj was hearing the plea of the rape survivor’s father, who sought direction to the government hospital surgeon to permit his minor daughter to undergo termination of her pregnancy.

“The daughter of the petitioner is now carrying a foetus which is 26 weeks and 1 day old. If the petitioner’s daughter is not willing to bear the child, having regard to the fact that she is a 17-year-old girl, this court should not hesitate to protect the honour and dignity of the girl,” the court observed on December 30.

The court referred the apex court’s X v. The Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of NCT of Delhi, and held that forcing a girl, who is a victim of sexual assault, to continue with her unwanted pregnancy, would violate her right to life and dignity.

The case arose from the father’s plea to seek the direction of the state to permit his minor daughter to undergo termination of her pregnancy.

The petitioner claimed that his daughter was a victim of an offence punishable under Section 64(2) (m) (punishment for rape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and Sections 4 (punishment for penetrative sexual assault), 5J(ii) (in the case of female child, makes the child pregnant as a consequence of sexual assaul), 5(L) (whoever commits penetrative sexual assault on the child more than once or repeatedly), and 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act, 2012.

The father submitted that his daughter is a school-going 17-year-old and she does not want to bear the child, and therefore requested the state to terminate the pregnancy.

“The government hospital examined and was opinion that the girl was carrying a 26-week and 1-day-old foetus, and therefore it is necessary to obtain the court order for termination of the pregnancy,” the father claimed

The state submitted that if the survivor is not interested in bearing the child, the court may exercise jurisdiction and permit her to terminate the pregnancy even if it is beyond 24 weeks.

According to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, the maximum time limit for termination of pregnancy is 24 weeks allowed for specific categories (rape survivor, minor rape survivor, minor, etc) with the opinion of a registered medical practitioner.

While accepting the fact that the daughter of the petitioner was a victim of a sexual assault and is now carrying a 26-week and 1-day-old foetus, the court said that it “should not hesitate to protect the honour and dignity of the girl”.

The court ruled that the medical committee has submitted a report that the girl is carrying a 26-week and 1-day-old foetus, and it is appropriate to permit the termination of the pregnancy by exercising the extraordinary jurisdiction vested in this court.