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¶1. Indiana- a country in South Central Asia has a rich heritage with co-existing diverse religions.

Najasthan is a state where Child Marriage is deeply rooted and ubiquitous from ancient times.
Old customs are followed and children are married at a young age. A survey by the NHRC
shows that the highest numbers of Child Marriage take place in the State involving girls from
poor backgrounds.
¶2. Rekha Choudhary, D/O Mr. Sameer Choudhary, aged 15 years on 14/04/2016 was crowned Ms.
Personality in the 10th standard. After her matriculation, her parents wanted her to get married
but Rekha wanted to study further.
¶3. Mohit Jakhar, aged 18 years, S/O Mr. Ranbir Jakhar had no interest in studying. His Father
decided to get him married to make him a responsible person. On 15/04/2017, he found Rekha,
on the matrimonial section of a newspaper. He visited Rekha’s home with the proposal of
marriage. Her father readily accepted this proposal as Mr. ranbir belonged from an affluent
family. No dowry was demanded. However, she scorned to marry despite of the promise made
by Mr. Ranbir that they will send her to school and allow her to pursue her career.
¶4. The marriage was performed on 17/05/2017, by parents’ consent. After the marriage, she was not
allowed to attend high school nor could she pursue her career in the world of fashion and her
mother-in-law threatened her to give birth to a baby boy, within a year, or else Rekha would be
abandoned and Mohit would get remarried. After a month, Mohit forcibly had sexual intercourse
with her for which she wasn’t prepared. She told about it to her parents but it went useless. She
also complained to the police, but no case was registered as this case comes under the exception
of offence of Rape and Marital Rape is not an offence under the IPC. Eventually, she became
pregnant when she was not biologically prepared.
¶5. After 20 weeks, she felt unbearable pain in her abdomen and was taken to SMS Hospital where
she was treated by a registered medical practitioner . A deformity in her feutus was observed
harming both the child and the mother. It was opined that under 18 years, she does not have the
capacities to take a decision about engaging in sexual intercourse. No action was taken by the in-
laws and her parents. Thus, Rekha secretly met with Ms. Meera, Member, NCW and narrated her
entire story. They decided to terminate her pregnancy. She visited the SMS Hospital for the same
but was denied permission to abort the child on the ground that her pregnancy had crossed 20
weeks of permitted period for abortion as per MTPA, 1971.On 12/01/2018 she sought
permission from the High Court for abortion beyond the permitted 20 weeks. The Court refused
to grant permission based on the provisions of MTPA, 1971. It also considered the report of a
panel of doctors that submitted to the court stating the fact that there is no physical risk to Rekha
in continuation of her pregnancy. However, the same panel of doctors also confirmed the harm
possible due to deformity. The Doctor was unwilling to perform an abortion without a judicial
direction.
¶6. At the time of the decision of the High Court she was 28 weeks into her pregnancy. The NCW
filed a writ petition against the decision of the High Court on the same day in the Supreme Court
regarding the constitutional validity of the MTPA, 1971. The Hon’ble Supreme Court issued the
direction to the Central Government to amend the MTPA, 1971. After following the directions of
Supreme Court, The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2018 was passed and
provided that now pregnancy can be terminated up to 24 weeks.
¶7. On 15/02/2018, Rekha gave birth to her premature girl child and her in-laws were not happy with
it. She became weak as a result of which she began losing her will to live. After few weeks, she
died on 25/02/2018. This matter was raised at a very large scale by the NCW and huge protests
took place in the country. A number of NGOs in concert started objecting the provisions of the
Law related to the termination of pregnancy and child marriages. A report was prepared by the
NCW and this report was published and broadcasted and a huge hue and cry was raised by
different sections of the society.
¶8. On behalf of report, the NCW filed a PIL stating that the provision of the MTPA, 2018 is
unconstitutional and violative of Article 2 which imposes a statutory bar for termination of
pregnancy beyond a 24-week period and demanded an amendment of Section 3 of the MTPA,
1971.It was proposed that the said section should provide that “length of pregnancy shall not
apply” in a decision to terminate the pregnancy if health care provider is of the opinion, formed
in good faith that the continuance of pregnancy would involve a substantial risk to physical,
mental health and to the life of the pregnant woman and child.” The NCW also contended that
the sexual intercourse without the wife’s consent is also rape under section 375 and violation of
Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.
¶9. The NCPC filed a PIL stating that The Prohibition of Child marriage Act, 2006 makes child
marriage to be voidable at the option of contracting party and also challenged the Exception 2 to
Section 375 (rape) of the IPC, which is discriminatory and thus, violates Art. 21.The Supreme
Court granted leave and admitted the matters and the Chief Justice has posted them before a
Constitutional Bench after clubbing the PILs for hearing on 09/03/2018.

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