High Court directs State to explain Policy measures for Abortion of Rape Survivors

A division bench of Rajasthan HC on Mar,06 asked the state govt to explain what steps are being taken to frame a policy for voluntary termination of pregnancy by rape survivors. The court has also issued notices to the chief secretary, govt of Rajasthan, the principal secretary, heath, the home secretary, the principal secretary social justice & empowerment & director general of police.

Notices were issued by the division bench comprising Justice Sabina & Justice Narendra Singh Dhadha following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Shalini Sheoran, a lawyer.

“In many cases of rape, the survivor conceives & neither she nor her family members wish for her to give birth to the child. However, the process of abortion becomes complicated for her after there is an First Information Report (FIR) of rape. During the investigation she is not supposed to get an abortion in terms of health & other reasons. Also, the DNA testing of foetus is also not been done in these cases,” Shalini said in her petition.

She added that in many cases during the trial the rape survivor due to sudden medical complications has to undergo abortion or other measures due to which the DNA is not protected. “Such things favour the accused in the trial. Thus, I have filed this public interest litigation (PIL) to advocate for a policy for voluntary abortion in the cases of rape. Apart from this, their record & DNA of the foetus should be kept intact so that it can be used by the police for investigation purpose,” she added. “There is no database by the state govt of vulnerable survivors of rape telling how many First Information Report (FIR)s of rapes are filed & out of these in how many cases police submitted final report & in how many cases abortion was done,” she added.

The petition also urged that the police, legal services authority & health department provide counselling to the rape survivors & provide them assistance for abortion. “There is no system of conducting the DNA profiling of the foetus with the accused before filing a final report in the rape cases. Also, with the petition, we have prayed for framing of guidelines for the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill 2020 to facilitate the rape survivors,” she added.

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