INTRODUCTION
A public interest litigation has been filed at the Punjab and Haryana Court on August 6th 2025 by a person named Dileep Kumar from Haryana regarding the constitutionality of some provisions of the Medical Termination of the Pregnancy Act 1971 herein after mentioned as “MTP”Act.
CASE SCENARIO
The petitioner in the above case argued that the Abortion Law in India is too relaxed and also failed to protect the life of an unborn child. In the PIL the petitioner demands that some of the sections in the MTP Act are unconstitutional.
Mainly the petitioner pointed out that in the case of allowing of abortion in situations except when there is a risk to the life of the mother or the unborn child. Also he challenges that a part of law that the act allows a woman to abort taking their mental health into account when a rape situation arises.
LEGAL VIEW
According to section 3(2) , Explanation 1 of the MTP Act defines as follows;
“Where any pregnancy is alleged by the pregnant woman to have been caused by rape, the anguish caused by the pregnancy shall be presumed to constitute a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman.”
The petitioner challenged the above explanation and argued that the mental health or trauma of a person can only be decided by a mental health expert .
Also the petitioner noted that in a case where there is no threat to life of a woman then the abortion in that case violates fundamental right under Article 21- Right to life under the Constitution of India.
JUDGES REMARKS
The Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry of the Punjab and Haryana Court heard the petition and asked the Union Government of India for the reply regarding this Public Interest Litigation. The case posted to another day.
CONCLUSION
The above PIL majorly focuses on the reproduction right of a woman and also it indicates the legal rights of an unborn child. Also this PIL challenges allowing abortion without properly evaluating the mental health of a pregnant woman. If the judges agree with the statements that are mentioned in the PIL by the petitioner, there will be a huge impact in the law of termination of pregnancy and the women’s right in pregnancy
AUTHOR DETAILS:
Aswathy S Menon, a law graduate from Mar Gregorios College of Law, Thiruvananthapuram, and Practicing as a lawyer at High Court of Kerala with over two years of experience in litigation, compliance, and legal research. She has contributed to legal content writing and worked on civil, criminal, and corporate matters, with particular interests in corporate governance, contract law, and dispute resolution.
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