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J&K High Court stays investigation into FIR against woman for pregnancy termination without consent
The has intervened to halt an investigation into a criminal case filed against a woman accused of terminating her pregnancy without her husband’s consent. Justice Rahul Bharti, presiding over the matter, issued an on the probe, casting doubt on the credibility of the allegations and the manner in which the police registered the First Information Report (FIR).
A Question of Haste: Did Police Act Too Quickly?
The case stems from FIR No. 0072/2026 registered at on . The complainant, Guftar Ahmed, alleged that his wife, Shazia Kouser (petitioner No. 1), terminated a four-to-five-month pregnancy conceived from him without his consent, and that her sister (petitioner No. 2) abetted the act. The FIR invoked sections 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 88 (causing miscarriage), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
The High Court, however, noted a troubling detail: the FIR was registered on the very day the complaint was lodged, with no apparent pause for the Station House Officer to evaluate the veracity of the accusations.
"Whether the Police Station, Manjakote ought to have exercised
in the matter of registering an FIR... is a question which gets posed,"
the order stated.
Court Scrutiny: " Do Not Inspire Confidence"
Justice Bharti’s order highlighted the lack of substance in the husband’s narrative.
"The
of the contents of the FIR on the face of it do not inspire confidence about the narrative being set up by the respondent No. 3 against the petitioner No. 1,"
the court observed.
The petitioners’ counsel, , drew the court’s attention to precedents— and —which have addressed similar issues concerning women’s autonomy and reproductive rights. While the order did not elaborate on these judgments, their invocation signaled a broader legal challenge to the FIR’s validity.
Decision and Implications
Finding a case for intervention, the High Court issued notice to the respondents and directed that the investigation remain stayed pending further hearing. The stay is subject to objections from the other side. The matter has been listed for .
The order effectively puts the brakes on a police probe that, in the court’s view, may have been initiated without . Legal experts see this as a significant check on the misuse of criminal law in marital disputes, particularly where allegations involve a woman’s . The case now awaits a full hearing, where the husband will have an opportunity to justify his complaint.
