BENCY S. Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are husband and wife. They have filed this Writ Petition producing Exts.P2 to P5 scan reports/other medical records in respect of the 1st petitioner and seeking a direction to the respondents to carry out medical termination of pregnancy of the 1st petitioner. Ext.P5 report from SAT Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, detected severe abnormalities in the fetus viz.Pseudo Dextrocardia, Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (left side), Severe Bilateral Ventriculomegaly, Obliterated Posterior Fossa, Arnold Chiarri Malformation, Thoracolumbar Meningomyelocoel and Open Neural Tube Defect (ONTD). Ext.P5 would show that the 1st petitioner is 28 years' old and the gestation age of the fetus was 24 weeks and 1 day as on 31.10.2020.

(2.) When the matter came up for admission on 04.11.2020 this Court passed an interim order directing the 4 th respondent to constitute a Medical Board and to examine the 1st petitioner and to report the matter through the learned Government Pleader.

(3.) The Medical Board was accordingly constituted and the report is made available to this court by Smt.Princy Xavier, the learned Government Pleader. It is stated that the 1st petitioner was examined on 04.11.2020 by a Medical Board, constituted with the following members :