Woman Seeks Company Of Jailed Husband To Beget A Child, Madhya Pradesh HC Directs Her Medical Test To Assess If She Can Conceive

The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently directed the medical examination of a woman, who sought the company of her jailed husband for 15-20 days to beget a child, to ascertain if she is medically fit to conceive.

A bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal passed this order after the counsel appearing for the state government, opposing the woman's writ plea, claimed that she had passed the age of menopause and hence, there is no possibility of any conception either naturally or through artificial insemination.

Essentially, in her writ plea before the Court, the petitioner-woman, claiming her conjugal rights, sought an appropriate direction that she be put in the company of her husband, presently lodged at Indore jail for a period of fifteen to thirty days, so that she can take benefit of procreation.

In support of her petition, she also referred to the Rajasthan High Court's order in the case of Nand Lal Through His Wife Rekha v. State of Rajasthan 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 122, wherein a division bench of the HC had granted 15 days parole to a life convict for progeny.

On the other hand, the Govt. Advocate for the State submitted that the petitioner-woman has passed the age of menopause and therefore, there is no chance that she can conceive. He further submitted that a Division Bench of the HC had rejected the temporary bail application of the husband of the petitioner.

In view of this, observing that there is a requirement for a medical report in the hands of a team of expert doctors to assess if the petitioner is medically fit to conceive or not, the Court directed her to appear before Dean, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur, on November 7, 2023.

In turn, the Dean of the said College has been directed to constitute a team of five doctors, three being Gynecologists, One Psychiatrist and another, Endocrinologist to examine the petitioner-woman and ascertain if she can conceive and to submit their report within a further period of fifteen days.

With this, the Court posted the matter for hearing on November 22, 2023.