Read Time: 07 minutes

Synopsis

The Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore Bench has issued detailed procedural directions for police authorities, district courts, and the High Court registry to ensure prompt legal and medical assistance in cases concerning the termination of pregnancy in cases involving sexual offences such as Rape.

The issuance of these guidelines was prompted during the hearing of a case involving a minor girl—who was allegedly gang-raped and was found to be pregnant as a result of the sexual assault. The petitioner, the minor girl’s mother, had approached the trial court seeking permission to terminate her daughter’s 19-week pregnancy. The trial court, however, rejected the plea due to the absence of medical documents supporting the application.

A Single judge bench comprising Justice Subodh Abhyankar, criticised the “acute insensitive approach” of the trial court, calling it “cruel” to expect a rape survivor to produce medical documents for termination of her pregnancy.

The court remarked : “It is an old saying that ‘procrastination is the thief of time’, for instance in the present case, it is found that the victim was first examined by the doctor on 30.11.2024, showing around 19 weeks pregnancy, thus, only due to procedural delays, two crucial weeks have been lost to the utter prejudice of the minor victim, which could have been avoided by the swift action of the all the parties concerned. However, the mother of the victim was wise enough to at least file such application before the District Court.”

The court further observed that the trial court’s approach demonstrated a lack of empathy. The court highlighted, “there is no provision in the Act of 1971(Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act) that such an application can be filed and entertained before the District Court. However, since the medical termination of pregnancy is a matter of life and death touching upon Article 21 of the Constitution, such an application can only be entertained by the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution. Thus, the application itself ought not to have been considered on merits by the learned Judge of the District Court.”

The State’s counsel submitted a medical report from the Civil Surgeon, Ujjain, confirming that the minor girl was fit for medical termination of her pregnancy with informed consent and procedural safeguards. In light of these findings, the High Court allowed the petition and permitted the medical termination.

Guidelines Issued for Future Cases:

To prevent similar delays, the court directed the following procedure:

1. The Station House Officer (SHO) of the concerned police station, based on the victim's Medico-Legal Case (MLC) indicating that she is pregnant, shall immediately forward the victim to the concerned District Court.

2. The District Judge, regardless of an application, shall refer the survivor to a medical officer/board to determine whether the pregnancy can be terminated.

3. After receiving the medical report, the District Court shall refer the case to the High Court registry, which will register the matter as a suo moto writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution.

4. The High Court bench with the appropriate roster shall immediately hear the matter to ensure timely orders regarding the pregnancy’s termination.

The High Court also ordered that the guidelines be circulated to all police stations in Madhya Pradesh through the Director General of Police, Bhopal, and to the Registrar General of the High Court in Jabalpur for implementation.

 

Cause Title: X v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Others

Appearance: Ms. Aditi Mehta, learned counsel for the petitioner.
Shri Sudeep Bhargava, learned Dy. Advocate General appearing on behalf of Advocate General.