10-year-old Chandigarh rape victim, whose abortion plea was rejected by SC, delivers girl child

Chandigarh: The 10-year-old rape victim, whose abortion plea was turned down by the Supreme Court, on Thursday delivered a girl child at Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32 here.

The girl's condition is stable. The delivery took place through Cesarean surgery.

The minor girl became pregnant after she was allegedly raped by her uncle for several months.

The Supreme Court had in July refused to allow the rape victim to undergo an abortion due to grave risk to her life.

Dr Dasari Harish, chairperson of the committee which had been constituted for treatment of the rape victim, today said, ""The minor girl delivered a baby through C-section this morning. The infants weight is 2.2 kg and it has been admitted to neo natal ICU. As far as the girl is concerned, she is stable and will be kept in a separate room."

Dr Dasari described the C-section procedure, which was carried out at the hospital, as "uneventful", though it was a "high risk pregnancy".

The girl's pregnancy was only discovered recently after her parents took her to hospital when she complained of stomach pain. They discovered that the girl had been repeatedly raped by her uncle over seven months.

The girl was unaware that she had delivered a child. Her parents had told her that she has a stone in her stomach and she had to be operated for that. Her father had requested the hospital authorities that the newborn should be put up for adoption.

On July 28, a division bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud turned down the plea after the report of a medical board, set up by Chandigarh's Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) on the court's orders to examine the pregnant child, warned that an abortion would risk the girl's life.

Courts allow medical termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and can make an exception if the foetus is genetically abnormal.