In a writ petition filed before the Madhya Pradesh High Court by a 16-year-old rape survivor seeking termination of a 24-week pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, a Single Judge Bench of Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt granted permission for the termination of pregnancy.
A report dated 22-08-2026 was submitted by the Head of Department, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, MTH Hospital MGMMC, Indore. The report mentioned that the girl wanted to terminate the pregnancy and came with a history of amenorrhea of 6 months with Congenital Malformation not sustainable to life. The report also mentioned that the foetus had skeletal dysplasia.
The Court referred to the report as well as the SOPs to be followed in case where the age of the pregnancy of survivor of sexual assault/rape/incest exceeds 24 weeks, established by this Court in a previous decision. Further, the Court perused Section 3(2) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, Rule 3B of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules, 2003, and also referred to the Supreme Court’s decision in X v. PrincipalSecretary, Health and Family 2023 (9) SCC 433.
Hence, the Court granted permission and directed the doctors to perform the procedure after verifying the victim’s physical and mental fitness. Further, the Court directed the procedure to be carried out expeditiously within a day or two. It was stated that since a criminal offence was registered in the matter, necessary procedure to preserved the DNA samples of the foetus and other aspects were to be taken care of so that the interest of justice could be served.
