Derailed relations between husband & wife not grounds to abort Pregnancy: Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court recently held that a derailed marriage or a strained relationship between a husband and wife can’t be considered as grounds to permit the abortion of a pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.

While denying permission for abortion of pregnancy to a 29-year-old lady, Justice P Sham Koshy also mentioned that abortion is considered as a crime in India.

The Court’s order stated, “The relationship of the petitioner getting strained with the husband or if the marriage life for some reason gets derailed, are not grounds which are permissible under Section 3 of the Act 1971.“

The Court also noted that the petitioner (woman) had not got pregnant due to any sex crime done with her, or without her consent and knowledge.

It also considered the fact that the petitioner was a married woman and that she had not she had not claimed that the pregnancy occurred from any other person or not by her husband.

The Couple’s marriage took place in November 2022. However, their relationship didn’t go in the right direction thus leading the wife to approach the High Court to abort the foetus.

The Judge observed that if the Court were to initiate looking into such petitions for the termination of pregnancy due to such situations, the core objective behind the enactment of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 would get disturbed.

The Court emphasized on the fact that abortion can only be permitted in “grave” situations.

The Court also stated, “In India, abortion is considered to be a crime. The medical practitioners are restrained from carrying out abortion unless until the situation gravely requires the pregnant lady to undergo abortion. That too is only on the advice of a qualified medical practitioner, who upon medically examining the pregnant lady, reaches to the conclusion that there is an apparent danger to the life or risk to the physical and mental health of the pregnant lady.“

Another situation in which the medical termination of pregnancy is permitted is if there is a substantial risk that the child if born would have severe deformities and diseases.

With such observations, the plea was dismissed by the Bench.

Advocate Ritesh Verma represented the petitioner. Advocate Pawan Kesharwani represented the State.

 

Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/marriage-derailed-strained-relations-abort-pregnancy-chhattisgarh-high-court