Chhattisgarh High Court allows minor rape victim to terminate pregnancy

Bilaspur: The Chhattisgarh High Court has granted permission to a 15-year-old rape victim to terminate her less than 20-week pregnancy after observing that forcing her to give birth to the child will subject her to face lifetime distress.

The petitioner’s lawyer Anis Tiwari said that a single bench of Justice Goutam Bhaduri passed the order directing that the survivor is entitled to medical termination of pregnancy.

Justice Bhaduri observed “It is obvious that if the girl was subjected to rape and if she is forced to give birth to a child, she would have to face a lifelong anguish, besides the fact that the child would also have to face disdain of the society.”

The court stated that in order to carry out the abortion, the state government will have to form a panel of expert doctors at the district hospital in Korba as early as possible following which the hospital need to take due care of the victim’s health and provide her all the necessary medical support.

It is to be noted that the victim’s identity has not been revealed in order to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault.