HIV+ rape victim can’t terminate pregnancy, says SC

By Express News Service  |   Published: 10th May 2017 12:59 AM  |  

Supreme Court | File

NEW DELHI/PATNA: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said an HIV positive destitute woman, who was raped on the streets of Patna and is 26 weeks pregnant, cannot abort the foetus as a medical report has suggested it would be risky for the mother and the child.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and AM Khanwilkar said the 35-year-old woman, being a rape victim, was eligible for compensation under theprovision of CrPC and directed the Bihar government to pay her Rs three lakh withinfour weeks.

The court also asked the State government to provide her all medical facilities at Patna’s Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (IGIMS) as per the treatment chart which would be given to her by the doctors of AIIMS here.

Earlier, being a married mother of two children and deserted by her husband, she had sought abortion of her foetus when she was 17 weeks pregnant.

 

But Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) refused to terminate her pregnancy for lack of her identity proof. The Patna High Court refused to permit her to terminate the pregnancy after a medical board that examined her said it could be dangerous.

A day after the apex court ordered her medical examination by a panel of doctors of All India Institute for Medical Science (AIIMS), she was flown to New Delhi on Thursday. The panel informed the top court in its report that there was grave danger to her life and that of the foetus if her pregnancy is terminated.