Delhi HC instructs AIIMS to constitute medical board to decide 15-year-old's abortion request

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered AIIMS to form a medical board to decide if a 15-year-old girl, who is over 26 weeks pregnant, could terminate her pregnancy. A division bench of Justice S Murlidhar and Justice IS Mehta directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to submit its report by Friday. [caption id=“attachment_2437256” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Delhi High Court. Reuters[/caption] The court passed the order after the girl wished to terminate the pregnancy from an alleged marriage she had with a man after eloping from her home, in order to pursue her studies. On Tuesday, the court had asked the girl, through her parents, to give a statement in writing on whether she wanted the pregnancy to be terminated, after noting that she had made contradictory statements before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), the medical board at AIIMS and then before the court. The girl had appeared before the court and told the judges that she re-thought about the situation and wanted to go ahead with the termination. She went missing since 31 March after she left home following an altercation with her mother. She was recovered from Narora village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr after her parents moved the court with a petition to find her. On 27 November, the accused, with whom she had eloped, was taken into custody. When she was sent for medical examination at AIIMS on 13 December, she retracted from her previous statement saying that she was not willing for abortion and her pregnancy is a result of marriage. In its report, the AIIMS noted that her pregnancy was a result of rape as her age is below 18 years but the termination was not advisable as she was already over 25 weeks pregnant.