SP, DCP will be held responsible if minor’s identity leaked in pregnancy termination cases: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court on Monday held that in cases of medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) where the police insist on a minor’s ID and compel the registered medical practitioner to share the same, the Superintendent of Police (SP) or the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) concerned will be held personally responsible if such identity or personal details of the minor gets leaked to the "outside world.".A special bench of Justices N Anand Venkatesh and Sunder Mohan directed the Tamil Nadu police to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) for protecting the identity of minors in MTP cases including those where pregnancy is the result of consensual sexual relationship. ."The Apex court has made it amply clear that when a minor approaches a registered medical practitioner for MTP for pregnancy out of a consensual relationship, the professional is not obliged to inform the authorities. But the police authorities say it is impossible to conduct a probe without the identity of the minor. in such cases therefore, the identity of the minor is not to be revealed by the police to the outside world. The police to come up with a mechanism to ensure a minor victim’s identity and personal details are not revealed to the outside world. An authority must be made accountable to in case such identity does get revealed. Considering the same, we deem it fit to make the SPs responsible if the identity of minor victims, their personal details are revealed. The Deputy Commissioner of Police in metropolitan cities will be held accountable in cases of leak of such personal details or identities of victims," the Court said..The bench also directed the State government to formulate an SOP to govern preservation of foetus or "products of conception" in case of medical termination of pregnancy of sexual assault victims. The Court noted that it takes a minimum of one month to get forensic report on such products of conception. Till then, the product of conception is preserved in the forensic lab. However, the problem arises after the lab hands it over to the police and the police in turn to the court or to the family, the Court noted."No SOP exists for preserving products of conception after it is returned by the forensic lab. Sometimes preservation is required for re-analysis. What do you do in those cases? There has to be an SOP," the Court said..The special bench was constituted to streamline MTP cases involving minor victims and for weeding out and quashing criminal cases registered against minor boys for having consensual relationships with or having eloped with minor girls..On Monday, the TN government informed the bench that 111 cases have been identified by the police that involved minor boys booked for having consensual relationship with minor girls. The State said that it was in the process of contacting the families of the victims in such cases and getting them to agree to quash criminal proceedings.The Court granted a month's time to the State for the same..The matter will be heard again on October 18..[Read Order]