Child on way, 12-yr-old ‘rape’ victim hopes to return to school soon

Most days now, the 12-year-old finds it difficult to get out of bed. When she ventures out of her home, located in a middle-class colony of Karnal, it is mostly to go to PGI in Chandigarh, in an ambulance provided by the Haryana government.

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That’s on the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, after it turned down the girl’s application to be allowed to terminate her pregnancy, the result of an alleged rape. The court said it was too late. In her ninth month of pregnancy, the 12-year-old is set to deliver.

Doctors attending to the victim at PGI say they know few instances of 12-year-old mothers.

The accused, a resident of Kaithal district, married and a father of one, would visit their home often. He was in Karnal preparing for IELTS (International English Language Testing System). The mother says the girl didn’t tell her about the two times he allegedly assaulted her, in July and August last year. And that she didn’t realise her daughter was pregnant till she had entered her seventh month.

After the accused was arrested, his father moved a local court saying his son was 17, a juvenile. Police however believe he is 22, the age he stated when he was arrested. Karnal SP Abhishek Garg said a case of rape has been registered.

The mother first started getting worried when the 12-year-old became lethargic, getting tired even after short walks, and lost her appetite. Then it was winter and under layers of clothing, no one noticed the signs of an advancing pregnancy.

“One day she was changing her clothes when I saw her stomach looked different. I took her to a doctor, and he told me about the pregnancy. I then approached the police,” says the mother.

The mother also moved the high court to be allowed to terminate the pregnancy. Earlier this month, the court declined permission as the foetus was more than 20 weeks old, the permissible limit as per medical rules.

Continuation of the pregnancy was less dangerous compared to its termination for the girl, doctors testified.

While turning down the girl’s request to drop the foetus, the high court directed the state government to meet all her medical expenses.

It is a lonely battle for the mother, who has an elder son in Class X, as her husband is serving time for a property dispute in which a person was killed. She worked in a beauty parlour earlier but now only takes on occasional assignments of bridal make-up. The family is being supported by her Hyderabad-based brother. The mother says he doesn’t know what has happened.

Tears welling up, she adds, “My daughter does not understand what’s going to happen. She could have a normal delivery. I do not know how she will bear it.”

The girl talks about pain in her back and stomach. “At times mummy gives me painkillers. I get tired and cannot breathe properly. My eyes tend to water.”

Watching cartoons on television, she adds she hasn’t thought about what would happen once the baby was born. “Mummy said I can go back to school when I am well… I have not talked to my friends for days.”

She couldn’t appear for her Class VII exams held recently but her mother is confident she will pass it whenever she does. The school has only been told she is unwell. “She loves English, is good in sports and fond of dancing,” adds the mother.

Often, the 12-year-old also wonders about her dream of becoming an astronaut. “I don’t know anymore what I will become.”