Doctor did the right thing! HC drops case against doctor who performed MTP On Rape Survivor Without Court Order

Kolkata: After considering the report filed by the doctor, who conducted Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) on a rape survivor without any order from the High Court, the Calcutta HC bench on Friday absolved the doctor of any deliberate violation of its order to perform an examination only.

Expressing displeasure at the medical termination of pregnancy of the woman by a team of doctors, the court had on February 3 sought an explanation from them as to why it was done despite an order to only form a medical board for ascertaining the pros and cons of doing so.

Based on the directions issued by the HC, the doctor, who was in charge of the check up of the petitioner, filed a report before the court on Friday.

Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya noted that as per the report, in view of the petitioner’s tremendous labour pain and severe bleeding during the examination, the doctor was compelled, in order to give relief to the patient, to carry out the medical termination process immediately.

Therefore, the court observed, "Keeping in view the humanitarian aspect of the matter and since the doctor did the right thing in seeking to alleviate the pain of the patient, that is, the petitioner, I do not find that any contemptuous act or deliberate violation of the order or dignity of the court has been done," quotes PTI.

Also Read: Completely Viable Foetus: Delhi HC rejects 20-year-old woman's plea to terminate 28-week pregnancy

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the HC bench comprising Justice Bhattacharyya had, on January 29, directed the West Bengal Government to form a medical board to examine the condition of the rape survivor who wanted to terminate her pregnancy caused by the incident and file a report before the Court on February 2.

It was submitted by the petitioner's counsel that she was suffering grave mental trauma and, as such, the court may permit the medical termination of the pregnancy which was stated to be between 20 to 24 weeks.

The counsel for the state, while not opposing the prayer, had submitted that, as per the petition, the unfortunate incident of rape took place on July 28, 2023, and as such, the pregnancy may be more advanced than pleaded.

Maintaining that the court was not an expert in the field, Justice Bhattacharyya had said that a medical board is required to be constituted to ascertain the pros and cons of medical termination of the pregnancy of the petitioner.

He had directed that the medical board would comprise at least two members, both of whom must be well-established medical practitioners in their respective fields and one of them must be from the field of gynaecology and the other from the field of paediatrics.

Even though the Court had only directed to form a medical board to ascertain the pros and cons of performing the abortion, a team of doctors reportedly performed the MTP. Following this, the Court had sought an explanation from the doctors noting that such an action on the part of the concerned doctors was an over-action, as the Court had not submitted the medical termination of pregnancy, but had only sought a report regarding its pros and cons.

Also Read: Calcutta HC seeks explanation of doctors who carried out medical termination of pregnancy of rape victim