Urvi Mahajani, Alifiya Khan | Hindustan Times | Mumbai | 4 August 2008
The last few agonising weeks of Niketa and Haresh Mehta are more than over after the Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed their petition seeking abortion of Niketa’s 25-week old foetus stating that the petitioners had not shown any material to justify the termination of pregnancy.
The division bench of Justice RMS Khandeparkar and Justice Amjad Sayed rejected the petition filed by the couple and their doctor Nikhil Datar which also sought that the Medical Termination of Pregnancies (MTP) Act, 1971, be amended to allow termination of pregnancy after 20th week if it was found that the child may be born with deformity. The MTP Act prohibits terminating pregnancy after it is progressed beyond 20 weeks.
While doctor Datar waited with bated breath throughout the hearing and dictation of the judgment on Monday, the couple was nowhere to be seen.