CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has referred a 17-year-old girl, who had allegedly been abducted by a youth and become pregnant, to the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar for ascertaining the age of her foetus after her father sought termination of pregnancy.
The minor girl was rescued by police after intervention of the High Court on a habeas corpus petition filed by her father on November 11. The medical reports submitted along with the petition indicated that she was around 18 weeks pregnant.
The court interacted with the girl through video conferencing and issued the direction on Monday. The division bench of Justice SK Mishra and Justice Savitri Ratho said that the girl informed them about being impregnated by the accused and she does not want to continue with the pregnancy. She further informed the bench that if the pregnancy is not terminated, her education will be hit and she may face insurmountable difficulties.
“Since the law permits termination of pregnancy only up to 20 weeks and the proposed amendment to extend it up to 24 weeks has not yet been passed by the Parliament, we consider it expedient to refer the case to the Capital Hospital for examination of the victim by two specialists, one of whom should be a gynaecologist and another a radiologist”, the bench said in its order.
The bench directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar to get the girl examined by December 9 and fixed the next hearing on Thursday.