15-Year-Old Rape Survivor Dies In UP, Was Seven Months Pregnant & Denied Abortion

A 15-year-old rape survivor, who was seven months pregnant, died of pregnancy related complications at a district hospital in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh.

She was admitted to the hospital on Saturday night and passed away on Thursday night.

Senior Superintendent of the hospital Dr Subodh Sharma said the girl was brought to the hospital in serious condition and her health deteriorated further. Despite best efforts by the doctors, she could not be saved, he added.

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Senior Superintendent of Police, Bareilly, Rohit Singh Sajwan said, "The post-mortem report says that the death took place due to infection. The viscera of the girl has been preserved," he added.

Girl was mentally unsound

The father of the girl, who was mentally unsound, said the family came to know about their daughter being six-month pregnant on December 6. He said she was raped allegedly by a 30-year-old man in a sugarcane field in June last year when she had gone out of the house for some work. The accused had threatened her that he would kill her family members if she revealed the incident to them.

The victim's father filed a complaint at Fatehganj West police station regarding the rape of his daughter on December 4, following which a case under the POCSO Act and the IPC was registered against the accused, police said. The accused was arrested on December 6, they added. Station House Officer of Fatehganj West police station Ashwani Kumar said a charge-sheet has been filed in the case.

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The girl's father had sought permission from the district administration to abort her baby but the permission was denied as doctors cited the pregnancy was of many days and a police case was on.

India's pregnancy laws

In late January 2020, the Union Cabinet amended the 1971 Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act allowing women to seek abortions as part of reproductive rights and gender justice.

This amendment has also placed India in the top league of countries where women can make individual choices from their perspective.

The amendment has raised the upper limit of MTP from 20 to 24 weeks for women including rape survivors, victims of incest, differently abled women and minors. Failure of contraception is also acknowledged and MTP is now available to ¡°any woman or her partner¡± replacing the old provision for ¡°only married woman or her husband.¡±