The Madhya Pradesh High Court, Gwalior Bench in its judgement dated October 17, 2022 held a girl and her father guilty of obtaining an order for termination of pregnancy on the false pretext that the Prosecutrix was raped.
The Court has issued contempt proceedings against the father-daughter duo since they repeatedly failed to appear for hearing and kept changing their stance continuously.
Case:
In 2021, a writ petition was filed by father ‘A’ of the prosecutrix ‘X’, for medical termination of her pregnancy, since he claimed that his daughter was a minor who had been subjected to rape. An FIR was also registered in Police Station Civil Lines, Distt. Datia for offence under:
Sections 363, 343, 376, 376(2)(n), 120-B, 376(d), 109, 366 of IPC and 5L/6, 5/17 of POCSO Act. 5.
The report of the Medical Board was called for. In March 2021, the State Counsel made the following submissions :
The Case Diary as well as the report of Medical Board has been submitted in a sealed cover. According to the Case Diary, the date of birth of the prosecutrix as per her School Record, is 02/04/2004. Thus, it is clear that the prosecutrix is still minor. According to the prosecution case, the prosecutrix was raped by accused Sonu Parihar as a result of which, she has become pregnant.
The Court, thus, allowed the petition and accordingly, the Prosecutrix underwent the procedure of abortion.
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Accused Man Moves Court For Bail
The man who had been accused of raping the minor girl, then moved a bail application before the Court on the ground that the Prosecutrix, her father and brother had turned hostile before the trial court.
He submitted that the girl’s family changed their statement that the Prosecutrix was major and nothing had happened to her and no petition for medical termination of pregnancy was ever filed and the prosecutrix never went for abortion.
However, the bail application was rejected in on 10-2-2022.
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Contempt By Father-Daughter
The Court discovered that the Prosecutrix and her father withheld substantial facts. After going through the DNA records, the Court learnt that the biological father of the foetus was one cousin of the Prosecutrix and not the main accused. It was concluded that the minor girl was in a consensual relationship with her cousin and her father deliberately filed a false rape case against the accused to hide their family problem.
The Court opined that the Prosecutrix could not have undergone the medical procedure without the permission of the Court since she was a minor. Although the father filed the petition in this case, the Court also did not absolve the minor girl for hiding this fact.
The Court said,
The Prosecutrix might have not filed the petition but took advantage of the order to “kill the unborn baby” by misusing the authority of the Court, which otherwise would have been an offence.
Father Played Emotional Card
The Court remarked that people close to the Prosecutrix were fully aware that she had eloped with someone and subsequently got pregnant. The Court also learnt that the Prosecutrix was also married and the father was playing the “emotional card”, which was nothing but an “after thought with a solitary intention to paint himself as a helpless father.”
Since the duo suppressed material facts from the Court, it directed to register a case against both the father and daughter.
The Court also held the two for contempt due to their irregular appearances and changing stances during the contempt proceedings.
On one occasion, the father even claimed that he had never filed the petition for medical termination of pregnancy of the Prosecutrix. However, the Court noted that he could not answer as to how he got his hands on the certified copy of the order in the said petition and how did the Prosecutrix appear before the medical board and thereafter, for abortion. The Court also took note of the fact that despite issuing summons, the Prosecutrix as well as her brother did not show up for the contempt proceedings. Accordingly, the Court concluded that it was a clear case of “gross contempt of court”.
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Madhya Pradesh High Court. Gwalior Bench
Justice G.S. Ahluwalia of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Gwalior Bench expressed anguish at the “sorry state of affairs” since the Court was misused to illegally obtain an order for abortion. He said,
This case shows a very sorry state of affairs, where some people in order to get rid of unwarranted pregnancy due to voluntary relationship with a close relative, have misused the lawful authority of this Court, by adopting a very innovative method. It is a very high time to put a check on this type of tendency, because the purpose of Medical termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 is to provide for the termination of certain pregnancies by registered medical practitioners and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Only specific pregnancies are to be permitted to be ended by licensed medical professionals. The primary objectives of the Act are also to reduce the death rate of women from unsafe and illegal abortions and to optimize the maternal health of Indian women. Only after this legislation, women are entitled to have safe abortions, but only under specific circumstances. However, the lawful authority of High Court cannot be permitted to be misused to terminate the unwarranted pregnancy by hiding the identity of the biological father of the child.
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The Court also noted that the Prosecutrix and her father obtained the order of abortion by making “incorrect averments”, because of which, “one unborn baby was killed”.
By exercising its power under Article 215 of the Constitution of India, the Court initiated suo moto contempt proceedings against them and ordered,
Further, the prosecutrix deliberately suppressed her physical relationship with BY, who is her cousin brother. As per DNA test report, BY is the biological father of the foetus. Thus, the prosecutrix and her father were suppressing entire facts right from the very beginning.
Thus, this Court is of the considered opinion, that the case was filed by suppressing correct facts with a solitary intention to avoid criminal liability of killing an unborn baby. Therefore, the prosecutrix, her father and others are liable for committing offence under Section 201, 315, 316 of IPC also. Therefore, the Superintendent of Police, Datia is also directed to investigate the case registered at Police Station Civil Lines, Datia from that angle also.
Holding both father-daughter guilty of contempt for misusing its lawful authority, the Court said,
The conduct of the contemners namely the prosecutrix and her father has shaken the very purpose of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 and this has great impact on the justice delivery system and has also lowered down the dignity of the Court.
If the prosecutrix and her father are allowed to go scot free, then it would encourage others also to indulge in such type of activities. Therefore, the prosecutrix “X” and her father “A” are held guilty of committing Contempt of Court.
The matter is listed for the 07.11.2022 for hearing on the question of sentence.
READ JUDGEMENT | Father-Daughter Obtained Termination Of Pregnancy Order By Filing #FalseRape Case: Madhya Pradesh HC
— Voice For Men India (@voiceformenind) October 29, 2022
▪️Girl eloped with Cousin, got Pregnant
▪️Father-Daughter filed False Rape Case on another man to obtain abortion order#VoiceForMenhttps://t.co/vb8jxlhKiM
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