New Delhi, July 21: The Supreme Court was torn between the right of an unborn child and that of a mentally challenged orphan girl wanting to keep her pregnancy resulting from sexual assault at a Nari Niketan in Chandigarh.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam was initially reluctant to interfere with a Punjab and Haryana High Court order directing medical termination of the pregnancy. But it changed its mind after counsel Tanu Bedi crafted her arguments based both on law and emotional grounds. It issued notice to Chandigarh administration and posted the hearing for Tuesday.
When the CJI expressed concern as to who would take care of the baby and what would be the health of the newborn, more so since the girl had no one to look after her, Bedi in her 40-minute long monologue repeatedly put these questions to the court “Why would a girl, even if mentally retarded, be deprived of motherhood which is her right? If her mental age was a consideration for the judiciary to think that she could not take care of her baby, why should poor women, who are found lacking in bringing up their children, be allowed to become mothers?”
She said medical termination of pregnancy could not be done under law without the consent of the mother. “And here is a case where the girl wants to keep her pregnancy. She has no blood relation in the world. Should we not help her to get her first blood relation in the baby she is carrying now,” Bedi asked.
The arguments not only touched the Bench but every one present in the court as Bedi went on, “She is already 20 weeks pregnant and termination could cause damage to her health and further deteriorate her mental state.”
If the Bench was worried about the future of the baby and whether the girl, with a mental age akin to that of a 9-year-old, could take the strain of motherhood, it was supported by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who appearing for a social activist cited medical reports that cast doubt on her ability to handle motherhood.
The Bench said, “Motherhood is not just giving birth to a child. She does not have anyone to look after her and experts say that she may not be able to look after the baby.”
But when it was pointed out that the deadline for safe termination of herpregnancy was Friday and a decision had to be taken before that, the Bench issued notice to Chandigarh administration and asked it to give response on Tuesday, when further hearing will take place.
-Agencies