New Delhi: Supreme Court in a special sitting on Monday, hearing the plea of a rape victim to put an end to her pregnancy, ordered a fresh medical examination and asked the hospital to submit the report by August 20.

Gujarat court dismissing Supreme court

The Supreme Court condemned The Gujarat High Court for rejecting the victim’s plea, wishing to terminate the pregnancy and said that in cases like these, “there should be a sense of urgency” and not a “lackadaisical attitude treating it as a normal matter”, reported news agency ANI

Criticism came from the apex court after Gujarat High Court passed the order on Saturday, despite being aware that the Supreme Court had listed the matter for today.

As the matter was acknowledged by the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice B V Nagaranth and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, the bench said, “What is happening in Gujarat High Court? No court in India can pass an order against a superior court order. It is against constitutional philosophy.”

Tushar Mehta, representing the Gujarat Government said Saturday’s order was a “clerical error”. He stated, “There was a clerical error in the previous order and that was fixed on Saturday. It was a misunderstanding,”. Adding further, he said, “We as the state government will request the judge to recall the order.”

This comes in response to the Supreme Court raising questions about the delay by the high court saying “valuable time” has been wasted.

Appalled at the High Court’s order, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Gujarat government seeking their responses to the women’s plea.

The 25-year-old victim’s counsel told the Supreme Court that she sought help from the court on August 7 following which the matter was heard the next day. On August 8, the High Court ordered that a medical board must be informed to examine the petitioner’s pregnancy and her health condition.

(Written by- Mahek Nigam)