The Case of the Ten and Half Year Old Pregnant Girl: Medico-legal Issues Involved

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) has become a pandemic. India has the dubious distinction of having the 2nd maximum number of cases of child sexual abuse victims, the world over.¹ Till 2012, we did not have any law to combat this heinous crime, even though, a survey by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2007 stated that 53% of Indian children become victims of CSA.¹ What is more terrifying is that most of these cases are incestuous in nature-the innocent children are victimised by someone from their own family, people whom they are told to trust and respect.

In the recent years, the reporting of early pre-teen pregnancy as a result of “rape” is on the rise. In some cases, courts allow termination, but in the others, the young girl is forced to carry on the unwanted “pregnancy” to the full term. The recent case of the 10½ yrs old girl, who underwent caesarean section at 35–36 weeks in our institute, is still fresh in the minds of the people.² A similar case had come to PGIMS Rohtak in May this year, where a 10 year old girl was repeatedly raped by her step-dad, but she was lucky that her pregnancy was detected to be between 18 to 22 weeks and hence underwent MTP.³

In this editorial, we will be discussing the physical challenges and various other legal aspects of continuing the pregnancy in such young girls to the full term if termination is denied to the survivor of sexual assault.