No passing order against superior court, Supreme Court raps Gujarat High Court
SC allows rape survivor to terminate pregnancy, says conception outside marriage is injurious
New Delhi: The Supreme court on Monday criticised Gujarat High Court for passing an order on Saturday against the top court’s order. The Supreme Court said passing an order against a superior court's ruling by any court is against constitutional philosophy.
The matter relates to a petition by a rape survivor, seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy. The top court's remarks came after the order passed by the high court on Saturday, even after the Supreme Court listed the matter for today, reports NDTV.
Justice B V Nagarathna said, "We do not appreciate High Court's counterblast to Supreme Court's orders. What is happening in High Court of Gujarat? Do judges reply like this to superior court's order? We do not appreciate this."
Permission for termination of pregnancy
Observing that pregnancy outside marriage is injurious and a cause of stress, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed a rape survivor to undergo medical termination of her over 27-week pregnancy.
Taking note of the survivor's medical report, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said the Gujarat High Court was not right in rejecting the prayer for termination of pregnancy.
The top court said in Indian society within the institution of marriage, pregnancy is a reason for joy and celebration not only for the couple but for the family and friends, reports PTI.
"In contrast, pregnancy outside marriage is injurious, particularly in cases of sexual assault or abuse and is a cause of stress and trauma affecting the physical and mental health of pregnant women. Sexual assault of a woman is itself distressing and sexual abuse resulting in pregnancy compounds the injury. This is because such a pregnancy is not voluntary or mindful.
"In view of the above discussion and the medical report, we permit the appellant to terminate her pregnancy. We direct her to be present in hospital tomorrow so that procedure for termination of pregnancy can be carried out," the bench said.
The apex court said if the foetus is found to be alive, the hospital shall give all necessary assistance, including incubation to ensure the foetus survives.
If it survives, the State shall take steps to ensure the child is adopted in accordance with the law, it said.
In a special sitting, the top court on Saturday expressed displeasure over the Gujarat High Court adjourning the survivor's plea for medical termination of her pregnancy, and said "valuable time" has been lost during the pendency of the matter.
Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, the upper limit for the termination of pregnancy is 24 weeks for married women, special categories including survivors of rape and other vulnerable women such as the differently-abled and minors.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
