AMN
Supreme Court today directed the Bihar government to pay 10 lakh rupees compensation to a destitute woman who was allegedly raped and not allowed to abort her 26-week pregnancy after a medical board’s opinion.
A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said it has passed a slew of directions and set aside the Patna High Court order by which it had not allowed the woman to terminate her pregnancy as she had crossed the legal embargo of 20 weeks under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971.
The victim’s counsel had earlier told the apex court that the woman deserved compensation from the Bihar Government as she had gone to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) to get her pregnancy terminated when she was in the 17th week of pregnancy.
The court was dealing with the case of a 35-year-old HIV-positive destitute woman, who was allegedly raped on the streets of Patna and is now 26-week pregnant.