High Court of Madras

Kajendran J. vs. Superintendent of Police

MANU/TN/3578/2024

15.07.2024

Law of Medicine

In case of medical termination of pregnancy, products of conception must be disposed in compliance with the procedure prescribed under guidelines

Petition is filed with a primary issue involving disposal of products of conception after Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP). The entire products of conception, after MTP of the foetus upto 24 weeks, are sent to the Forensic Science Lab (FSL). There are no guidelines as to what happens to the products of conception that are sent to FSL and how the same are treated after it is analyzed and report is prepared. Also, only FSL has the facility to preserve the products of conception, no such facility is available in the police stations or in the courts. Therefore, if the products of conception are not preserved properly, it will be of no use and even if any further analysis is to be made, the same cannot be done with unpreserved products of conception.

The court observed that once the analysis is completed and a report is submitted by the FSL, the sample that is sent to FSL shall be retained by the lab till the completion of the case. Thereafter, it shall be destroyed as per 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.

Secondary issue pertains to the challenge regarding maintaining confidentiality of identity of the minor, as if the same is not revealed to the police, it will become impossible to proceed further with the investigation. The concern is as to how the police is going to safeguard the identity and the personal details of the victim without disclosing it.

The court pertaining to this issue made the Superintendent of Police of the concerned District responsible if the identity or the personal details of the minor victim girl are revealed to the outside world. In the same manner, the Deputy Commissioner in the Metropolitan Cities will be made responsible if any such disclosure of the identity and personal details of a victim gets revealed to the outside world. The concerned officers will be made responsible for any violation of the direction issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

Tags : Madras HC MTP

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