The Bombay High Court questioned whether a mentally challenged woman has no right to become a mother. Judge R.V. A bench of Justices Ghuge and Rajesh Patil was hearing a plea filed by the father of the 27-year-old woman, seeking permission for medical abortion of her 21-week-old fetus on the grounds that the woman was mentally unstable. He is ill. And unmarried.
The man said in his application that his daughter wanted to continue the pregnancy. The bench had last week directed that the woman be investigated by Mumbai government’s J.J. Should be done by a medical board in the hospital. The medical board has submitted its report. According to the report, the woman is not mentally unwell or ill, rather she is mentally handicapped and her IQ is 75 percent.
The bench said that the woman’s guardian did not provide her any kind of psychological counseling or treatment, but was only giving her medicines since 2011. The medical board report stated that there were no abnormalities in the fetus and the woman was medically healthy to continue the pregnancy. The court has scheduled the next hearing of the case for January 13.
Mention of abortion in the report
However, the report also states that miscarriage may also occur. Additional public prosecutor Prachi Tatke told the court that in such cases the consent of the pregnant woman is most important. The bench took note of the fact that the medical board’s report clearly stated that the woman was not mentally ill or unwell. The court said the report stated that his intelligence was below average. No man can be more intelligent. We are all human beings and everyone has different levels of intelligence.
The High Court said, does her intelligence not match the average, hence she has no right to become a mother? If we say that a person with below average intelligence does not have the right to become a parent, it would be against the law. The bench said that this case cannot be termed as mental disorder. She (the pregnant woman in the present case) has not been declared mentally ill. It is merely a matter of intellectual display.
The court gave this instruction to the woman’s family.
The petitioner’s counsel told the high court that the woman has now informed her guardian about the identity of the person with whom she is in a relationship and who is responsible for her pregnancy. After this, the court asked the woman’s guardian to meet the man and talk to him to know whether he is ready to marry her. The court said that as a parent you should take the initiative and talk to that person. Both are adults. This is not a crime.
