Girls used to get married by age of 14, deliver child before 17 years: Gujarat High Court invokes Manusmriti in pregnancy termination matter

The Gujarat High Court Wednesday invoked Manusmriti to emphasise how girls in the past were married off by the age of 14 to 16 years and would have given birth to at least one child by the age of 17. .Single-judge Justice Samir Dave made this observation while dealing with a plea filed by a rape survivor's father, who sought to medically terminate his daughter's 7 month-old pregnancy..Advocate Sikander Saiyed, appearing for the father, pointed out that the girl was merely 16 years and 11 months old at present and that this pregnancy would have an adverse impact on her mental health. To this, Justice Dave responded that women in the past were used to delivering at least one child before the age of 17. "Because we are living in 21st century... Go and ask your mother or great grand mother. They will tell you that in the past, 14 to 16 years was the normal age for girls to get married. By the time they (girls) attain 17 years, they would deliver at least one child," Justice Dave observed. .Saiyed too agreed and said, "Yes Milords, even in Islam, the age to get married for girls is 13."At this, Justice Dave replied, "See the point is girls get matured even before boys do. Four to five months here or there wouldn't make much difference. It is there in Manusmriti, I know you won't read that but still read it for this once.".The bench also pointed out that the circumstances in the present case indicate that the child is healthy and even the mother (survivor) is healthy. "You must understand that no one, even the court, cannot permit you to kill the baby unless there are some symptoms or adverse circumstances," the bench underlined. The judge therefore, ordered the Medical Superintendent, Civil Hospital, Rajkot to constitute a panel and examine the girl and also the foetus. The bench asked the medical board to submit its report clearly spelling out if the foetus could be permitted to be terminated medically or not. Matter would be now heard on June 15. .Advocate Sikander Saiyed appeared for the Petitioner. Additional Public Prosecutor JK Shah represented the State.