Read Time: 06 minutes

Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to set up a board to examine if a 22-week pregnant woman can safely undergo termination of pregnancy.

The bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad said that the opinion of a Medical Board would be necessary for consideration as to whether it would be safe for the woman to undergo the procedure for termination of pregnancy by a registered medical practitioner and also to ascertain the conditions of the foetus.

“Let the report of the Medical Board, so constituted, be forwarded to this Court within 48 hours from today”, the court ordered.

The court issued notice in the plea of the 32-year-old woman, who was married in May this year after she started residing with her husband and father-in-law at her matrimonial home.

The petitioner in June 2023, came to know about carrying a single intrauterine pregnancy. It is the petitioner’s case that right from the early stages of marriage, she was being tortured, abused verbally, physically, mentally and emotionally by her husband at her matrimonial home.

She stated that on July 7, her husband physically assaulted her for the first time and it again happened in August when she was 3 months pregnant. It is her case that after the assault, she has decided to separate from her husband and has also decided to take divorce from him and, therefore, she does not want to continue with her pregnancy.

The court pointed out that the woman had not filed any FIR against her husband and had also not filed any petition for divorce or judicial separation from her husband till now, nor had she approached any court under the Domestic Violence Act.

“However, the ratio of the Apex Court is that it is the prerogative of each women to evaluate her life and arrive at the best course of action in view of the change in material circumstance. The Apex Court was of the opinion that change in material circumstance may result when a woman separates from her partner and she may no longer have the financial resources to raise the child. The Apex Court has included the cases of domestic violence perpetrated on a woman under Rule 3B(c) of the MTP Rules wherein a woman is permitted to terminate her pregnancy up to 24 weeks on the ground of change of marital status during the ongoing pregnancy”, the court said.

Furthermore, the court directed the woman’s husband to be impleaded in the plea and issued notice to him. Accordingly, the court listed the matter for further consideration on October 19, 2023 at 5 p.m.

Case Title: Mrs. B v. The Union of India & Anr.