Madras HC allows 18-year-old rape survivor to terminate pregnancy

MADURAI: The Madras high court has directed the dean of Sivaganga Medical College Hospital to terminate the pregnancy of an 18-year-old rape survivor who was allegedly raped by a nursing college principal in Sivaganga district. Justice M Govindaraj on Thursday directed the dean of the Sivaganga Medical College Hospital to terminate the pregnancy of the petitioner and to preserve the DNA of the foetus as the investigation of the case is under way.

The girl from Sivaganga district in her petition stated that after passing out of Class XII, she joined Goodman’s College of Nursing, a private college in the district.

She stated that after she informed her mother that the principal of the college, Sivaguru Durairaj, is looking at her with wrong intentions, her mother arranged her marriage with a person.

She said that when she went to the college to obtain her transfer certificate (TC) on August 12 to avail government benefits for her marriage, Durairaj threatened her to fail her in the exam and raped her. He gave her the TC and threatened her not to expose him. She got married on September 11 and moved to Chennai, while her husband went to a foreign country for work.

A few days later, when she consulted a doctor after she developed some health issues, she was informed that she was three-and-a-half month pregnant. When this was informed to her husband, he refused to live with her and her mother-in-law handed her over to her parents. Thereafter, she lodged a complaint at the Sivaganga all-women police station on October 10 and police arrested him the same day.

She further submitted that she was admitted to the Sivaganga Medical College Hospital and when she asked the doctors to terminate her pregnancy, they refused the same.

She stated that while her husband has refused to live with her, the baby would make her a victim of social stigma.

Hence, the petitioner moved Madurai bench of the HC seeking termination of her pregnancy. She also sought Sivaganga superintendent of police and inspector of police of Sivaganga all-women police station to take and preserve the DNA of the foetus for the case. A case was registered against Durairaj under IPC sections 376, 294(b) and 506(i).