Judge in Calcutta High Court commends doctor for terminating pregnancy without forming board

A judge of the Calcutta High Court commended a physician at a state-run hospital in Kolkata for ending a rape victim’s 23-week pregnancy before a medical board was formed, as instructed by the same court one month prior.

On January 29, the one-judge panel of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya allowed the rape victim to terminate her pregnancy, but they also ordered the creation of a medical board for that purpose and told the court beforehand about it.

However, the doctor in question proceeded with the pregnancy termination without notifying the medical board or the Calcutta High Court following the victim’s admission to the state-run M.R. Bangur Hospital for that exercise.

As a result, the Justice Bhattacharyya bench asked the involved doctor to explain why the court order was not strictly adhered to. Nevertheless, Justice Bhattacharyya was satisfied with the doctor’s explanation.

The victim’s medical state was quite critical when she was admitted, and she was even bleeding, according to the explanation. The victim could have been put in danger of dying if the doctor had waited for the medical board to be established before telling the court about the problem.

Judge Bhattacharyya, who was satisfied with the explanation, said that the doctor in this specific situation had acted appropriately by following the court order word for word without wasting any time. He also stated unequivocally that the doctor will not face any repercussions from the court for this matter.

Since the pregnancy was discovered 21 weeks earlier, the victim has been dealing with issues related to the pregnancy abortion. According to Indian law, a pregnancy that is 20 weeks or longer can only be ended with a judge’s approval.