Minor Girl's Aborted Foetus Not To Be Given To Police Or Court, Must Be Kept In Forensic Lab & Destroyed After Completion Of Case: Madras HC

Noting that there was no standard operating procedure to deal with the products of conception after a Medical Termination of Pregnancy done for a minor pregnant girl, the Madras High Court observed that a guideline needed to be issued and followed across the state. The bench of Justice N Anand Venkatesh and Justice Sunder Mohan noted that after a fetus less than 24 weeks old was completely sent to Forensic Science Lab and analysis was done, there was no standard operating procedure available and there was no facility to preserve the product of conception. The court thus made it clear that once the analysis was complete and a report was submitted by the FSL, the sample should be retained by the FSL till the completion of the case and destroyed after that. The court also emphasized that the samples should not be handed over to the investigation officer and should never reach the hands of the victim girl or her family. With respect to fetus beyond 24 weeks, the court noted that the femur alone was handed over to the FSL, and the rest of the products of conception should be treated as Bio-Medical waste and destroyed as per the procedure. “Under no circumstances, the samples that are sent to the laboratory for analysis shall be handed over to the investigation officer or to the Court, it shall be retained in the laboratory and it shall be destroyed after the completion of the case. A guideline in this regard must also be issued and followed across the state of Tamil Nadu,” the court observed. The bench was constituted to monitor the implementation of provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Juvenile Justice Act on the judicial side. Identity Of Minor Victim Girl During the proceedings, the court also stressed that care must be taken to not reveal the identity of the minor victim. The court observed that after the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) came into effect, maintaining confidentiality became more important as the new law insisted on audio-video recording and if these recordings were leaked, it would cause more damage to the victim girl who had already undergone trauma. The court remarked that while revealing identity was necessary for proceeding with the investigation, the identity and personal details of the victim girl need not be explicitly revealed in the report submitted to the authorities. The court thus suggested that the Registered Medical Practitioner can orally reveal the identity of the victim, on a request from the police to enable the investigation. The court also stressed that the police must be prevented from disclosing the identity and the personal details of the minor victim girl. The court observed that a proper mechanism needed to be evolved to ensure that the identity of a minor girl and her details never get revealed. To ensure that the higher authorities own up in case of an identity reveal, the court added that the Superintendent of Police of the concerned District and the Deputy Commissioner in Metropolitan cities would be held responsible if the identity of the victim girl is revealed. The court added that this protection would ensure that the police officer conducting the investigation would be diligent in investigating without disclosing the identity and other personal details of the minor victim child. Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 282Case Title: Kajendran J v Superintendent of Police Case No: HCP No. 2182 of 2022Click here to read/download the order

Minor Girl's Aborted Foetus Not To Be Given To Police Or Court, Must Be Kept In Forensic Lab & Destroyed After Completion Of Case: Madras HC

Upasana Sajeev

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