Guwahati, March 2: Giving a humane angle to the hotly-debated issue of abortion, Gauhati High Court today directed the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) to terminate the pregnancy of a minor rape victim.

A single-judge bench of Justice I.E. Ansari termed the case as ?unusual? and maintained that the girl became pregnant because she was allegedly raped by one Pulu Thakuria. He said the 14-year-old girl has full right to go for an abortion under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 since she is still a minor (below 18 years).

In its judgment, the court said denying abortion to the girl would cause ?serious miscarriage of justice? to the victim as well as the petitioner of the case, Sorhab Ali, who is the father of the minor girl.

The order, without entering into the question whether rape was committed or not, said there was no dispute that the girl was below 18 years and she claimed that the accused had ?cohabited with her?.

?Since the girl was below 18 years, the alleged cohabitation with the accused would statutorily be without her consent and would be treated as offence of rape punishable under Section 376 of IPC. Whether the allegations levelled by the petitioner against the accused is true or not is not material in the present writ petition,? the judge said.

The court had taken into cognisance only the fact that the girl became pregnant because of alleged rape.

In such circumstances, termination of pregnancy by a registered medical practitioner has been permitted and the act would not be considered an offence, it added.

Justice Ansari gave the ruling after advocate Bhaskar Deb Konwar argued before the court that the sub-divisional judicial magistrate of Rangiya, who twice rejected the plea of the girl to terminate her prengancy, had violated Article 14 & 21 on right to equality and protection of life and personal liberty.

Konwar, assisted by advocates J.M. Konwar and S. Sarkar, said sub-divisional judicial magistrate had ?mechanically? rejected the petitions observing that the plea was not tenable in the eyes of the law.

The girl, referred to as ?Ms X? in the petition was a Class IX student of Rangiya Girls Higher Secondary School. She went missing on December 16 last year.

Thakuria, who allegedly raped the girl, had reportedly brought her to Guwahati en route to Utttar Pradesh. The girl was held hostage at the residence of Thakuria?s brother in the north Indian state.

However, the girl was traced and brought back to Rangiya following intervention by Assam police and their counterparts in UP. The accused was put behind bars.

The accused and the victim were produced before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate on January 28. A medical test on February 15 revealed that the girl was pregnant by eight weeks.

However, when the girl?s father approached doctors to terminate the pregnancy, they refused.

Finding no other option, he filed a petition with the sub-divisional judicial magistrate of Rangiya.