The Jharkhand High Court has ordered the state government to provide a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to a visually-impaired rape survivor who has been impregnated.
The high court on Wednesday also ordered the Ranchi deputy commissioner to ensure proper care for the survivor till her delivery.
The court of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, while hearing a criminal writ petition filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on behalf of the survivor, ordered the DC to monitor her health condition.
The judge also said that after birth, the child should be admitted to a school when he or she comes of age and the expense must be borne by the state government.
The court also ordered the Social Welfare Department secretary to establish a rehabilitation centre for such survivors in the state.
The matter had come up before the high court in a petition filed by the woman seeking permission for termination of her pregnancy.
The medical board of the state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) declined the request for medical termination of pregnancy as 28 weeks have been completed and such a procedure would pose risk to the woman’s life.
The woman, who is 100 per cent visually impaired, was gang-raped in 2018.
Thereafter, she was also raped by her own brother and uncle, as per the petition.
Her father is a rickshaw puller and she was raped in his absence. It is not known who impregnated the woman.
The high court had called for a report from the RIMS director on September 9 which was presented to the bench.
The court, accepting the report of the medical board, rejected the survivor’s plea for termination of her pregnancy. It also asked the state government to build a rehabilitation centre for such survivors.
