‘Unfortunate’: Bombay HC slams Maharashtra Govt’s refusal to file FIR in minor rape victim’s failed abortion, baby death case
The Bombay High Court asked Advocate General Milind Sathe to appear for the government at the next hearing on April 16.
A probe revealed a newborn girl, born after a botched abortion of a rape victim, died of starvation while staff allegedly focused on DNA sampling (File image). The Bombay High Court’s Kolhapur circuit bench Tuesday expressed displeasure over the Maharashtra government’s refusal to file an FIR against Satara Civil Hospital officials for the alleged criminal negligence during the abortion of a 26-week-old rape victim, which resulted in the birth and subsequent death of her newborn. Terming the state’s stance “unfortunate,” the court questioned why a “serious incident” was being dismissed as mere procedural oversight.
The high court on April 2 asked the state to decide on lodging an FIR on a “shocking” report submitted by E Ravindran, Secretary, Public Health, that indicted the Satara Hospital’s civil surgeon and gynaecologist for criminal negligence leading to the death of a newborn baby girl born to the minor rape survivor. The abortion procedure failed, resulting in the baby’s birth. The newborn later died, allegedly due to starvation, as the facility prioritised DNA sampling over life support.
On Tuesday, the court referred to a letter dated April 6 from the Under Secretary, Public Health Department, which stated the Department’s position on lodging an FIR.
A division bench of Justices Madhav J Jamdar and Pravin S Patil observed, “It is unfortunate that in spite of (a) very serious incident, the state government has taken a stand that (the) Public Health Department is of the view that FIR need not be lodged in the matter as the incident had taken place due to the administrative/procedural lapses.”
Noting this, the court asked Advocate General Milind Sathe to appear for the government at the next hearing on April 16.
Police ‘inaction’
The bench also expressed “shock” at the lack of action by Satara’s Superintendent of Police (SP) on a written complaint by advocate Mohansinh Rajput, representing the petitioner, seeking protection due to threats by a few people.
Despite a written complaint on March 28 and a subsequent High Court order on April 2 to provide protection, the local police claimed they had received no such complaint. The court has demanded an affidavit from the Satara SP explaining the position.
Advocate Rajput informed the bench that while one psychiatric session has been conducted for the minor victim and her mother, the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) has recommended several more sessions to address the severe trauma. The high court directed the DLSA to take all necessary steps for their mental well-being.
‘Totally false’ report
On March 7, a different high court bench authorised the abortion of the minor girl who was nearly 24 weeks pregnant, in accordance with the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act. A medical board recommended this decision to safeguard her physical and mental well-being. On March 18, Justice Jamdar’s bench directed the Public Health department to probe why the civil surgeon in his compliance report claimed the abortion was “successfully done”.
On April 2, the high court cited the probe report and noted the civil surgeon’s compliance report was “totally false” since the newborn got no treatment for almost 11 hours, resulting in the baby girl’s death. The court then asked for the state’s view on filing an FIR against Dr Yuvraj Karpe, Satara’s civil surgeon, and gynaecologist Dr Chandsaheb Shikalgar.
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