NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has dismissed a plea seeking to conduct hysterectomy surgery on a differently-abled woman because she was unable to manage herself during menstrual cycles, saying, “disability can never be the only ground to deny reproductive autonomy.”
Justice Amit Mahajan said surgical intervention can only be done on the suggestion of medical experts that this would be in the best interest of the person involved for protection of her welfare and dignity.
"It is apposite to mention that disability in itself can never be the only ground to deny reproductive autonomy or approve removal of reproductive organ and thus, such a route of surgical intervention can be adopted if medical evaluations suggest that the same would be in the best interest of the petitioner for protection of her welfare and dignity," the judge said in an order passed on September 22.
The judge directed the authorities to constitute an independent multidisciplinary medical board and take a decision within four weeks on the surgery to be conducted on the woman.
The judge said that the court has merely granted permission to constitute the medical board which can decide whether such a surgery is required in lieu of the woman's chequered medical background. "The same may not be construed as carte blanche or approval of the surgery, since the opinion on the surgery has to be formed by domain experts, that is, medical experts," the judge said.
The court was hearing a plea by a differently-abled woman's parents seeking direction to the Delhi government to consider conducting a hysterectomy operation (surgical removal of the uterus).
The petitioners submitted that their daughter was born in March 2005 and was suffering from cerebral palsy with spastic moderate hemiparesis with moderate mental retardation. They claimed the disability was permanent in nature and the condition was non-progressive. They further claimed that the woman was not in a fit state of mind to give consent to the surgery.
