The court castigated the Gujarat High Court for adjourning a case of termination of medical pregnancy for such a long period and also directed the secretary general of the Supreme Court to inquire from the high court the reasons for delay in uploading the rejection Order of the request for termination of the pregnancy.
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IN a special sitting on Saturday, the Supreme Court castigated the Gujarat High Court for adjourning a case of termination of medical pregnancy by 12 days.
The court observed that a sense of urgency should have been displayed in dealing with the matter as time is a crucial factor in such cases.
A division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing a petition filed by a woman who had become pregnant after being raped, against the Gujarat High Court’s Order rejecting the request for termination of the pregnancy.
Background
The petitioner got to know about her pregnancy on August 4.
On August 7, she approached the high court seeking to terminate the pregnancy.
On August 8, the high court formed a medical board to examine the feasibility of terminating the pregnancy. The medical report came on August 10 which favoured continuation of the pregnancy.
Notably, when she had approached the high court, she was already 26 weeks pregnant.
On August 11, the high court adjourned the matter to August 23.
However, the matter got listed on August 17. The high court judge rejected the petition without giving speaking orders.
It is in these circumstances that the rape survivor approached the Supreme Court.
Now the Supreme Court has sought a fresh report from the medical board and listed the matter on Monday.
Advocate Shashank Singh appeared for the petitioner while advocate Swati Ghildiyal appeared for the Gujarat government.
