The best interests of the victim and the conditions for pregnancy termination under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 were central to the court's decision.

S.P.Garg, J. (Open Court);—

1. The petitioner-'X' has filed the present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking directions to the respondents for terminating her pregnancy and to preserve the fetus for DNA test.

2. Notice was issued to the respondents. Status report has been filed and it is taken on record. I have made enquiries from the petitioner in the presence of her counsel Ms.Kiran Singh, Advocate in the chamber. She has expressed her willingness to get her pregnancy terminated. She states that she is unable to carry the pregnancy to full term due to social stigma as she is victim of rape. I have also made enquiries from Kapil who in chamber separately. He had no objection to the petitioner getting her pregnancy terminated. He admitted that he was already married and has children. I also had conversation with Arti, petitioners friend separately. She volunteered to take care of the petitioner during her termination of pregnancy.

3. ‘X’ lodged report with the police on 31.01.2013 and case vide FIR No.22/2013 under Section 376/506 IPC was registered against Kapil. She was medically examined at AIIMS on 31.01.2013. It was found that she was having pregnancy of six weeks duration. Her statement under Section 164 Cr.P.C. was recorded. Kapil was arrested and is in custody.

4. Petitioner is not legally married to Kapil and he is already married and has children. Allegedly, he established physical relations with ‘X’ on false promise to marry her. Kapil did not inform ‘X’ his marital status before seeking her consent for physical relationship. She became pregnant as a result of the alleged rape. During her medical examination, it was found that she was pregnant for about six weeks at that point of time. She is living alone with her friend in Delhi and her parents are not aware of her association with Kapil. She does not want to bear a child as she was cheated by Kapil and intends to punish him.

5. State has no objection if ‘X’ gets her pregnancy terminated. Kapil has also not objected to it. ‘X’ is major aged about 22 years. She has consultation with her counsel Ms.Kiran Singh. She understands the consequence of her act. On 21.03.2013, she was medically examined at AIIMS and as per doctors? opinion, pregnancy can be terminated with minimal known risks. The victim has expressed her willingness to terminate the pregnancy. The Court must respect her decision. In ‘Suchita Srivastava and anr. Vs. Chandigarh Administration’, (2009) 9 SCC 1, the Supreme Court held :

“37. As evident from its literal description, the “best interests” test requires the Court to ascertain the course of action which would serve the best interests of the person in question. In the present setting this means that the Court must undertake a careful inquiry of the medical opinion on the feasibility of the pregnancy as well as social circumstances faced by the victim. It is important to note that the Court’s decision should be guided by the interests of the victim alone and not those of the other stakeholders such as guardians or the society in general. It is evidence that the woman in question will need care and assistance which will in turn entail some costs. However, that cannot be a ground for denying the exercise of reproductive rights.”

6. A plain reading of provision in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 clearly indicates that consent is an essential condition for performing an abortion on a woman who has attained the age of majority and does not suffer any „mental illness?. The Explanations to Section 3 have contemplated the termination of pregnancy when the same is the result of a rape or a failure of birth control methods since both of these eventualities have been equated with a “grave injury to the mental health” of a woman. In such circumstances, consent of the pregnant woman is an essential requirement for proceeding with the termination of the pregnan