Bombay HC lets minor ‘rape survivor’ undergo MTP – Times of India

Mumbai: Bombay high court on Tuesday allowed a 13-year-old alleged rape survivor to undergo a medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) of her 22-week fetus.
The MTP law says that where any pregnancy is alleged by the pregnant woman to have been caused by rape, the anguish caused by pregnancy shall be presumed to constitute a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman.
“Under section 3(2)(b)(i), we find that if continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury to her physical or mental health, it can be terminated by a registered medical practitioner,’’ said an HC bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Madhav Jamdar on August 31. Given that she is a minor and keeping her mental state in mind the HC directed the District Legal Services Authority to depute a paralegal volunteer to aid and assist her.
The National Legal Services Authority has a ‘para-legal volunteers’ scheme to train volunteers.Swati Deshpande