NIKHIL D. DATTAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard. Rule. By consent, heard forthwith. The learned advocates for the respondents waive service.

(2.) By the present petition, the petitioners are seeking declaration that Section 5 of The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, for short "the said Act", to the extent it does not include the eventualities specified under Section 3(2)(b)(ii) of the said Act is ultra vires and that, therefore, the Section 5(1) of the said Act should be read down to include the said eventualities, and consequently should be read to include the following words "and when there is a substantial risk that if the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped" and hence direction should be issued to the respondents to allow the petitioner No. 3 to terminate the pregnancy.

(3.) The facts which are not in dispute are that the petitioner No. 3 is currently in 26th week of pregnancy. During 24th week of pregnancy, the petitioner No. 3 having undergone the necessary medical tests learnt that the foetus in her womb was diagnosed to have congenital complete heart block. The petitioner Nos. 2 and 3 consulted the petitioner No. 1 and sought his opinion about the possibility for termination of pregnancy after learning about the alleged anomalies in the foetus.