No conviction for causing miscarriage if child in womb full-grown or no expulsion of foetus from womb pre-term: Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court recently held that a person cannot be convicted for the offence of causing a miscarriage if the child in the mother's womb is full-grown or if there is no expulsion of the foetus from the womb before gestation is over [Rajesh Kumar vs State of Chhattisgarh]. .Section 312 (causing miscarriage) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) only contemplates the expulsion of a child from the womb before gestation is over, the Court reiterated, while relying on the 1873 ruling in Queen v. Arunja Bewa and another.Justice Sanjay K Agrawal made the observation while acquitting a doctor in a case where the foetus of a deceased woman was found "safe and dead" in her womb at 24 weeks."Where the child in the womb is full grown the accused cannot be convicted of causing 'miscarriage' under Section 312 of the IPC. The reason is that this section only contemplates expulsion of the child from the mother’s womb before the period of gestation is completed. But in such cases, the accused could be convicted of an attempt to cause miscarriage under this section read with Section 511 of the IPC," the Court said in its January 16 order..The deceased woman was said to have become pregnant after being in a relationship with a juvenile boy, with whom she had eloped.After nearly five months, the boy's family traced the couple only to find that the woman was pregnant. The family is then said to have given ₹ 1,500 to a doctor to terminate the woman's pregnancy.Accordingly, the doctor is alleged to have administered an injection to terminate the pregnancy. However, the woman died subsequently. Her postmortem reports stated that she had died of shock. Subsequently, a criminal case was filed against the doctor as well as the juvenile boy's family..To decide on the case, the Court analysed Sections 312 (causing miscarriage) and 314 (death caused by act done with intent to cause miscarriage) of the IPC.After considering rival submissions, the High Court quashed the case against the accused. ."Foetus of 24 weeks was in the womb of the deceased though it was safe and dead and as such, there was no expulsion of child from the mother’s womb before the period of gestation is completed ... As such it is established on the date of offence that Shakun Bai (deceased woman) was having a foetus of 24 weeks in her womb and since there was no expulsion of the embryo or foetus, the act, it any, of the appellant would not come within the meaning of section 314 of the IPC to cause miscarriage. The prosecution has failed to prove that such an act has caused the death of Shakun Bai and that the appellant caused miscarriage with an intention to cause her death," the Court said..Since the prosecution failed to prove the offence of miscarriage, the Court also opined that there was no evidence against family members of the juvenile boy to abet the offence under Section 314. Hence, it quashed and set aside their convictions too. .Advocate Gurmit Singh Ahluwalia appeared for the doctor. Senior Advocates Surendra Singh, KA Ansari along with advocates Pragalbha Sharma, Meera Ansari and Aman Ansari appeared for other accused persons. Deputy Government Advocate Sudeep Verma represented the State..[Read Judgment]