In a pivotal ruling, the Kerala High Court has reversed an earlier decision by one of its single judges, permitting a 16-year-old rape victim to terminate her pregnancy which had extended beyond 26 weeks. The division bench, led by Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice S Manu, cited the severe mental trauma the victim was enduring as a critical factor in their decision.
The controversy began when a medical board, lacking a psychiatrist, failed to fully assess the mental health impacts on the teenager, leading the single judge to deny the abortion request initially. The bench criticized this oversight, noting the absence of a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation as a significant gap in the decision-making process.
Upon appeal by the victim’s mother, the division bench mandated a psychiatric assessment, which revealed the girl was suffering from an adjustment disorder with depressive reactions due to the pregnancy. The psychiatrist determined that continuing the pregnancy would severely impact her mental health.
With these findings, the bench authorized the medical termination of the pregnancy, instructing the Government Medical College Hospital in Kerala to conduct the necessary procedure. They emphasized the need to preserve tissue and blood samples of the fetus for DNA fingerprinting and mapping, crucial for the ongoing criminal investigation into the rape allegations.
Furthermore, the court outlined provisions for the unlikely event of the fetus being born alive, stating that the necessary medical facilities must be provided to save the infant’s life. Responsibility for the child, if the minor or her parents are unwilling to assume it, would then fall to the state.
This decision comes after the single judge, Justice V G Arun, had initially suggested that the victim could give the baby up for adoption post-delivery, a proposal that did not address the immediate mental health concerns raised by the victim’s circumstances. The judge had previously noted no physical anomalies in the fetus nor immediate physical risks to the girl’s health from continuing the pregnancy, which has now been contested by psychiatric evaluation.
