For the first time in the judicial history of Jammu Kashmir, the court allowed the abortion of a minor girl who was raped.
According to a petition filed in the court, in December 2019, a 17-year-old, minor girl was abducted in Bhallesa, area of District Doda, by a man named Ashok Kumar.
The abduction led to the girl’s father lodging a report in the nearest police station. This registered a case against the accused under FIR No. 104/2019 under IPC 363/109.
After the registration of FIR, the missing girl was later recovered from Himachal Pradesh by the police and the accused was arrested.
The Jammu Kashmir high court directed the medical Board of Jammu to conduct a medical check-up of the minor.
On April 25, 2020, the girl underwent an ultrasound, which revealed that she was 22 weeks pregnant.
The Jammu Kashmir high court legally permits the medical Board of Jammu to perform an abortion when the pregnancy is 26 weeks old.
The family of the minor girl welcomed the decision of the court and admitted the girl to Shalamar Hospital in Jammu where a high-level team of doctors aborted her.
Talking to the media, the father of the victim said, “This embarrassing incident that happened to my daughter should not happen again in the society”.
Expressing their helplessness, the family of the minor girl said, “The local constituency committee, panch and sarpanch in her native village tried to suppress the issue which has hurt us badly. I appeal to the administration to punish the culprits so that we get justice”.
Lawyer Muhammad Irfan Khan, who is fighting the case on behalf of the victim, said, “The incident took place in December, after which locals tried to end the issue at the local level. However, much time was wasted and now the abortion permission is obtained from the High Court and the court ordered to provide all the medical facilities free of cost and keep the DNA samples safe”.
Justice Javed Iqbal Wani of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, while hearing the arguments of all the parties of the case, a few days ago, said in his judgment through video conferencing, “The victim is facing physical and social hardships, it is very difficult and painful to describe the hardships she is going through”.
It’s pertinent to mention that Section 312 to 316 of the Penal Code provided that any person performing an illegal abortion was subject to imprisonment for three years and/or payment of a fine; if the woman was “quick with child”, the punishment was imprisonment for up to seven years and payment of a fine.
The same penalty applied to a woman who induced her own miscarriage.
However, The Indian Penal Code (Act No. 45 of 1860) provides an exception and permits abortion only when it is justified for the good faith purpose of saving the life of the woman