Madras High Court allowed 15 year old to abort foetus, father and grandfather sexually assaulted her

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday allowed the abortion of a foetus of a minor girl who had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by her father and grandfather in Thanjavur. The 15-year-old’s father and grandfather sexually assaulted her several times following the death of her mother in 2016, her aunt alleged.

The offence came to light only after her guardian (her aunt) who filed the petition, discovered last month that the survivor was pregnant. Justice R Pongiappan passed the order on the petition which cited the age of the petitioner and her mental agony from the assault as grounds for seeking the abortion.

Since the gestational age of the foetus exceeded 20 weeks, Justice Pongiappan, who heard the plea, had directed the Dean of Thanjavur Medical College Hospital to form a committee to examine the girl and report whether the foetus could be aborted without endangering the life of the girl.

Following a positive report submitted by the said committee, the judge, on Tuesday, directed the Dean to make arrangements for the abortion immediately with the help of the doctors who were part of the committee. He further issued directions to preserve the samples of the foetus which could be used as evidence in the criminal case registered in connection with the offence.