Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 – s. 3(2)(b), Rule 3B – Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules 2003 – Termination of pregnancy of an unmarried woman – Petitioner was in a consensual relationship and in month of June 2022 she learnt that she was pregnant (22 weeks) – Petitioner stated that in absence of source of livelihood, she would be unable to nurture a child – Petitioner deserted by her partner – She decided to terminate the pregnancy – Writ petition before the High Court – High Court declined to grant relief – On appeal, held: Letting the petitioner suffer from an unwanted pregnancy would be contrary to the intent of law – Petitioner should not be denied the benefit of MTP Act on the ground that she is unmarried women – Distinction between married and unmarried women does not bear nexus to the basic purpose and object which is sought to be achieved by parliament especially through the provisions of Explanation 1 to s.3 of the MTP Act – Ad Interim order to carry out abortion safely was passed – Ad interim direction of High Court stands modified. Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration (2009)
9 SCC 1 : [2009] 13 SCR 989; Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Anr. v. Union of India and Ors. (2017) 10 SCC 1 : [2017] 10 SCR 569, (2016) SCC OnLine Bom 8426; S Khusboo v. Kanniammal (2010) 5 SCC 600 : [2010] 5 SCR 322 – relied on.
High Court on its Own Motion v. State of Maharashtra 2017 Cri LJ 218 (Bom HC) – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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