Gujarat: Abortion plea of woman accused of kidnapping student gets court nod
A special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court in Surat on Tuesday granted the permission to terminate a 22-week-old pregnancy of a 23-year-old female teacher days after police arrested her and rescued her 13-year-old student after intercepting them in a bus at Shamlaji on Gujarat-Rajasthan border.
The teacher has been charged under BNS Act Sections 137(2) (Kidnapping), 127(3) (Punishment for wrongful confinement). The medical termination of pregnancy of the accused woman will be done at Surat Municipal Corporation-run SMIMER hospital in a week, and the foetus should be preserved for a DNA test, the order stated.
The woman had on Friday moved the special POCSO court, seeking permission for abortion under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. Based on the application, the court instructed Punagam police to seek expert advice from the medical fraternity.
Police took her to SMIMER hospital for a medical examination, after which the hospital authorities submitted a report to police, stating that 'the termination of pregnancy is advised considering the risk factor'. Police submitted the report to the court on Tuesday.
The report, signed by professor Dr Archish Desai, Assistant professor Dr Sonam Parikh and Senior Resident Dr Thumar, stated, 'As the accused is unmarried and 23 years old, continuation of pregnancy may be harmful for her psychologically and socially. According to the MTP Act, Medical Termination of Pregnancy can be done up to 24 weeks of gestation, and the accused wants termination of pregnancy at present. The risk of complications of Second Trimester Medical Termination of Pregnancy includes incomplete abortion, retained products of conception, bleeding, infection, uterine rupture, failure of termination of pregnancy and may need surgical intervention (hysterotomy) and psychological complications. The mortality (death) risk is 0.6/100000. Considering the risk-benefit ratio, termination of pregnancy is advised from our side with an explanation of the risks. Kindly permit Termination of Pregnancy.'
The teacher and the student had gone missing on April 25 and were last seen in the CCTV footage at Surat Railway Station.
Police sources said the teacher had been offering tuition to the student for the last few years.
On April 26, the boy's father had lodged a complaint of kidnapping against the teacher following which police had started a probe in the matter.
POCSO invoked
Later, police received information that the teacher and the student were returning to Gujarat in a private luxury bus from Jaipur, Rajasthan.
A team of Surat police intercepted the bus and brought the teacher and the boy back to the city. After primary interrogation, police said they learnt that the woman had allegedly confessed to establishing physical relations with the boy following which POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act's Sections 8, 4 and 12 were added in the existing kidnapping complaint against the teacher.
After the police remand, the accused teacher was sent to judicial custody at Surat Central Jail.
The court order on Tuesday stated: 'The Medical Superintendent of SMIMER Hospital, Surat, is directed to conduct medical termination of pregnancy of the accused girl who has been charged with the offence punishable under section BNS Act, 137(2), 127(3) and POCSO Act sections. 4, 6, 8 and 12 with two (or more than that) qualified surgeons, including a gynaecologist and an obstetrician, in the presence of a qualified physician, with due care and precaution, to avoid any likelihood of untoward harm to the physical or mental health of the accused girl after carrying out a necessary medical check-up forthwith. The foetus should be preserved to enable the investigating agency to send it for a DNA test. The accused girl should be discharged from the hospital after termination of pregnancy only, if she is found to be medically fit. The Medical Superintendent of SMIMER Hospital, Surat should submit report with regards to the termination of pregnancy to this court within a week. The Investigating Officer should take custody of the accused and send her to jail after she is discharged from the hospital.'
The court also observed, 'The continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury on physical and mental health, or there is a substantial risk that if the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities…'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Ireland probes mistreatment at care homes run by French company
Representative AI image DUBLIN: Ireland's health ministry Thursday ordered a probe into French care homes operator Emeis, the country's biggest private nursing home provider, after a television programme alleged residents in two places were mistreated. The investigative programme aired undercover footage of elderly residents allegedly forced into chairs, and being ignored when they pleaded for help to go to the toilet. The programme, shown on Irish state broadcaster RTE on Wednesday, also showed some residents were left in incontinence pads for so long their clothes were soaked. The scenes were "extremely distressing" and "wholly unacceptable", health ministry official Kieran O'Donnell told RTE Thursday. The ministry has ordered the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to launch a review of all nursing homes operated by Emeis, he said. Offering its "sincere apologies", the firm said "this is not the standard of care it expects and not what residents and their families deserve", and pledged to review all operations across Ireland. Emeis, which was called Orpea until last year, run 27 private nursing homes in Ireland. The company entered the Irish market in 2020 through the takeover of another portfolio. HIQA, who are tasked with inspecting care homes, said Emeis-run homes including the two featured in Wednesday's programme had triggered recent concerns. Earlier this year, HIQA ordered one of them to cease admitting new residents, citing "significant concerns". Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke told RTE an institution should not be operating "if people are not being cared for appropriately, with dignity, with respect". "HIQA need to really enforce that and to ensure that everyone has a basic level of dignity and care that they deserve in their twilight years," said Burke. Emeis changed its name to turn the page on a scandal in France when its homes came under scrutiny following the 2022 publication of the book "The Gravediggers" by independent journalist Victor Castan. It cited employees and relatives claiming that residents were at times left for hours with soiled underwear or went days without care as managers sought to maximise profit margins. Orpea contested those claims as "untruthful, scandalous and injurious".
Mint
3 days ago
- Mint
Israel-Backed Gaza Aid Group Suspends Operations for Second Day
An Israel- and US-backed mechanism to distribute food in Gaza suspended operations for a second day following a series of deadly incidents near its sites that drew international criticism. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a Swiss-based nonprofit, launched in Gaza last week following a months-long Israeli blockade of the territory, and says it has handed out enough food staples for millions of meals. But the roll-out has been dogged by overcrowding and at least one incident in which Israeli forces, citing a security threat, fired toward Palestinians headed to a GHF aid center. 'The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat,' Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian affairs chief, said in a statement urging Israel to allow his organization's aid network back into the territory. 'We must be allowed to do our jobs: We have the teams, the plan, the supplies and the experience.' UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for an independent investigation into reports that Israeli forces had killed dozens near the aid stations in Rafah. The Israeli army denied that its soldiers had shot anyone seeking aid and the GHF called the reports 'outright fabrications.' In a statement on June 2, the International Committee of the Red Cross said its hospital had received 21 dead among 179 casualties. The stations were shuttered on Wednesday and on Thursday morning 'due to ongoing maintenance and repair work,' the GHF said in a statement. It was not immediately clear when operations might resume. Gaza's 2 million Palestinians had long depended on UN relief before the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people. During the almost 20-month-old war — in which more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry — UN agencies have been sidelined by Israel, which accuses them of being too close to the US-designated terrorist group. Some of Israel's closest European allies, including Germany, the UK and France, have are increasingly critical of Israel's prosecution of the war, which has destroyed much of the coastal strip and sparked what international aid agencies say is a hunger crisis. They're considering trade sanctions and curbs on arms sales to push Israel to end the war. The UN has criticized the GHF for not being able to provide anywhere near enough food and medicine for Gaza's population and for politicizing humanitarian work. Israel, which controls Gaza's borders, argues that Hamas benefits from siphoning off UN aid. 'There is a joint effort here, both by Hamas and by the UN, which want to see the failure of these distribution centers,' Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the UN, said in an Army Radio interview on Thursday. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Hans India
4 days ago
- Hans India
Probe ordered into death of 5 patients in SLN Hospital
Koraput: Two investigations were ordered after five patients died due to alleged negligence at the State-run Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital in Koraput, officials said on Wednesday. Two men and three women died on Tuesday night within a short span of time. Their families alleged that they were administered injections, following which they died. The deceased persons were identified as Shukra Majhi, Rukuni Pentia, Phulmati Majhi, Bhagaban Parija and Bati Khara. SLNMCH's Superintendent Susanta Kumar Sahu said a departmental inquiry has been ordered. 'We have convened a meeting of all departmental heads. The patients who died on Tuesday night were admitted to the hospital in a critical condition. Prima facie, the deaths seem not to have been caused by any wrong injection. However, we will inquire into the allegations,' he said. Sahu said the patients in the ICU were in a serious condition and were administered the injection to control their dropping blood pressure. He said two of the five deceased patients suffered abdominal injuries, while another suffered from liver perforation. 'We suspect they died due to bleeding and septicemia. The fourth patient was being treated for stage 4 cancer, and the fifth was an accident victim, who was referred from Jeypore,' he said. Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) Santosh Mishra also ordered a separate inquiry into the allegations. A five-member team, comprising three doctors from MKCG Medical College Hospital in Berhampur and two from SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack, will probe the allegations, he said. 'The team has been asked to submit the report by Thursday,' Mishra said. Koraput District Collector Keerthi Vasan told mediapersons that a high-level committee has been constituted to probe the allegations of medical negligence and find out the causes of deaths. He also assured that the district administration would seek the assistance of the State government, if needed. The Collector claimed that as the SLNMCH, Koraput is a tertiary care centre, mostly the seriously ill patients are referred to the medical college for advanced treatment. The families of the deceased held a demonstration outside the hospital, following which police were deployed. The bodies were handed over to the families after post-mortem examination. 'Each family was given a cheque of Rs 10,000 from the district Red Cross fund. Arrangements were made to transport the bodies to the villages of the deceased patients,' a district official said. Congress Legislature Party leader Rama Chandra Kadam demanded Rs 25 lakh each as compensation for the families of the deceased.
