The Delhi High Court recently directed that a 14-year-old pregnant girl should be transferred to a children’s home for safe childbirth after both she and her guardian brother refused to allow the termination of her pregnancy.
During the hearing of a petition filed by the minor through her elder brother, a single bench of Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani was informed that the girl had become pregnant due to sexual intercourse with the accused in a case registered under sections 366A and 376(2)(n) of Indian Penal Code and section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Despite initial requests for abortion, the minor didn’t agree to it and expressed a desire to marry the accused. However, it was revealed that there had been no communication between the two since the accused’s arrest in May, 2023.
Justice Bhambhani has granted the petitioner’s request to move from Sakhi One-Stop Centre in IHBAS Hospital Complex, Shahdara, Delhi to Childrens Home for Girls-IV in Nirmal Chayya, New Delhi. This decision follows the Follow-up Order dated 31.05.2023 made by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) to provide necessary care and protection under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 guidelines.
The single bench gave the order after considering the suggestion of the CWC. The CWC had proposed that if medical termination of pregnancy was not advised, then the minor should be placed in the children’s home so that she could receive adequate antenatal care and proper assistance for a safe delivery.
When the court asked for information, the brother stated during the proceedings that their father had passed away a long time ago and their mother was suffering from mental illness.
Following the court’s order on May 31st, the minor was taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital to be examined by the Medical Board with regard to terminating her pregnancy.
According to the report from the Medical Board, the minor expressed her desire to continue the pregnancy and put the baby up for adoption. The report also noted that the minor’s brother shared this desire for the pregnancy to continue. Therefore, the Medical Board concluded that there was no need to consider the feasibility or advisability of medical termination. Even during a personal interaction with the court on June 01, both the minor and her brother expressed that they did not want to terminate the pregnancy.
The representative for the minor requested the court to call upon the defendant to determine their intentions, given that the young woman had expressed interest in marrying them. However, Justice Bhambhani declined to expand the scope of the original request which was made for Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP).
The bench observed that medical termination of pregnancy can only be done with the consent of the “woman” involved. However, in this particular case, the “woman” is actually a 14-year-old child. As per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, consent must thus be obtained from the “guardian” of the woman, as defined in section 2(a).
The petitioner is currently under the care and custody of her 22-year-old brother ‘D’, who is the only guardian available. He has stated to both the Medical Board and the court that he does not consent to the medical termination of the pregnancy.
