PRATIBHA GAUR Vs. GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Present writ petition has been preferred by the Petitioner seeking the following reliefs:

(2.) As per the case set out in the petition, Petitioner is 33 years old and has been undergoing regular check-ups from the 5th week of her pregnancy. From the ultrasonography report dtd. 31.10.2021, conducted during the 20th week of gestation, it was revealed that there was choroid plexus cyst in the left lateral ventricle of the foetus. However, since the foetus was only 20 weeks old, foetal echocardiography was not performed. On completion of 24 weeks, foetal Echo-Doppler test was done on 02/12/2021 and various anomalies were found in the heart of the foetus, viz., Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) with Absent Pulmonary Valve Syndrome (APV), presence of Pulmonary Stenosis and Regurgitation with Narrow Pulmonary Valves, Dilated Branch Pulmonary Artery and Large Malaligned VSD with overriding of Aorta.

(3.) Thereafter, Petitioner consulted many Doctors, including Paediatric Cardiologists, in different hospitals and as per the last medical opinion received by her on 15.12.2021, infants born with condition of TOF have 50 per cent chance of survival in the very first year of their birth and even if they do survive the first year, repeated surgeries have to be carried out and success of the surgeries depends upon the stimuli of the baby to the environment. Since the permissible limit of 24 weeks under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as 'MTP Act') as amended by the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021 was over, Petitioner approached this Court seeking a direction to the Respondents to allow her to undergo medical termination of pregnancy.