Shruti Kakkar By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court in a special Saturday hearing castigated the Gujarat High Court over its delay in deciding a rape victim’s plea for medical termination of her 27-week pregnancy. The woman had approached the Gujarat High Court on August 7 seeking permission to abort her 26-week-old fetus. The court on August 8 constituted a medical board to ascertain her health.

The board submitted its report the next day. Although it was taken on record on August 11, the matter was posted for hearing on August 23 —12 days later.

The court also rejected the listing of the case on August 17. A bench of justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan remarked that there should be some sense of urgency in such cases, adding valuable time was lost due to the high court adjourning the case by 12 days despite the medical report supporting her plea for safe abortion.

“In such cases, there must be a sense of urgency and not a lackadaisical attitude...adjourning it like a normal case, we’re sorry to make these remarks,” the bench said. The bench directed the medical board to submit a fresh medical report by Sunday evening. “The same shall be put up before this court on Monday. List this case on Monday as the first item,” it said.

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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court in a special Saturday hearing castigated the Gujarat High Court over its delay in deciding a rape victim’s plea for medical termination of her 27-week pregnancy. The woman had approached the Gujarat High Court on August 7 seeking permission to abort her 26-week-old fetus. The court on August 8 constituted a medical board to ascertain her health. The board submitted its report the next day. Although it was taken on record on August 11, the matter was posted for hearing on August 23 —12 days later. The court also rejected the listing of the case on August 17. A bench of justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan remarked that there should be some sense of urgency in such cases, adding valuable time was lost due to the high court adjourning the case by 12 days despite the medical report supporting her plea for safe abortion.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); “In such cases, there must be a sense of urgency and not a lackadaisical attitude...adjourning it like a normal case, we’re sorry to make these remarks,” the bench said. The bench directed the medical board to submit a fresh medical report by Sunday evening. “The same shall be put up before this court on Monday. List this case on Monday as the first item,” it said. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp