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Maharashtra

‘Woman’s right to choose…’ Bombay HC allows termination of 32-week pregnancy with foetal abnormalities

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3 years ago

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A woman has the right to choose whether to continue her pregnancy or not and the decision is hers and hers alone to make, the Bombay High Court said while allowing a married woman to terminate her 32-week pregnancy after the foetus was detected with severe abnormalities.

The woman had approached HC seeking to terminate her pregnancy after a sonography revealed the foetus had severe abnormalities and that the baby would be born with physical and mental disabilities.

“Given a severe foetal abnormality, the length of the pregnancy does not matter. The petitioner has taken an informed decision. It is not an easy one. But that decision is hers, and hers alone to make. The right to choose is of the petitioner’s. It is not the right of the Medical Board,” the court said in its order.

Refusing termination of pregnancy only on grounds of delay would not only be condemning the foetus to a less than optimal life but would also be condemning the mother to a future that will almost certainly rob her of every positive attribute of parenthood, the HC said.


Denial of her right to dignity

“It would be a denial of her right to dignity, and her reproductive and decisional autonomy. The mother knows today there is no possibility of having a normal healthy baby at the end of this delivery,” the court said.

“Accepting the Medical Board’s view is not just to condemn the foetus to a substandard life but is to force on the petitioner and her husband an unhappy and traumatic parenthood. The effect on them and their family cannot even be imagined,” it added.

The petitioner’s foetus is detected with both microcephaly and lissencephaly, and this is what the future portends, the bench said.

Asserting that the rights of the woman should never be compromised in the “blind application of a statute”, the court said, “Justice may have to be blindfolded; it can never be allowed to be blindsided. We are agnostic about the relative positions of parties. We can never be agnostic about where justice needs to be delivered.”

Moral dilemma

It said cases such as this often raise profound moral questions and dilemmas, but it is immutable that the “arc of the moral universe always bends towards justice”.

The bench said the existence of the foetal anomaly, as well as its severity, was certain as also the fact that it was detected late.

“Because it is difficult to predict at birth what problems will occur, microcephalic babies need constant and regular follow up and check-ups with health care providers. There is no known cure or standard treatment for it. In more extreme cases, microcephalic babies need intervention almost constantly,” the court said.

Most disturbingly, the prognosis for children with lissencephaly depends on the degree of brain malformation, it added.

The bench noted the medical board did not take into account the social and economic position of the couple.

“It ignores their milieu entirely. It does not even attempt to envision the kind of life, one with no quality at all to speak of, that the petitioner must endure for an indefinite future if the Board’s recommendation is to be followed,” the HC said.

“The Board really does only one thing: because late, therefore no. And that is plainly wrong, as we have seen,” the court said while allowing the pregnancy to be terminated.

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Maharashtra

Attention Mumbaikars! Central Railway To Operate Mega Block Between Thane And Kalyan On Sunday, Sept 14 For Essential Maintenance

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12 hours ago

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September 13, 2025

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Central Railway, Mumbai Division will operate Mega Block on its Main line suburban sections, on 5th and 6th line between Thane and Kalyan stations for carrying out various engineering and maintenance works on Sunday, 14.09.2025.

Block on 5th & 6th lines between Thane and Kalyan stations from 09.00 hrs to 13.00 hrs.

Following UP Mail/Express trains will be diverted on UP Fast line between Kalyan and Thane stations and will arrive destination 10 to 15 minutes late..

11010 Pune-CSMT Sinhagad Express

17611 Hazur Sahib Nanded-CSMT Rajyarani Express

12124 Pune-CSMT Deccan Queen

12134 Mangaluru Jn-CSMT Express

13201 Patna-LTT Express

17221 Kakinada-LTT Express

12126 Pune-CSMT Pragati Express

12140 Nagpur-CSMT Sevagram Express

22160 Chennai-CSMT Express

22226 Solapur-CSMT Vande Bharat Express

12168 Banaras-LTT Express

12321 Howrah-CSMT Express

12812 Hatia-LTT Express

11014 Coimbatore-LTT Express

Following DOWN Mail/Express trains will be diverted on DOWN fast line between Thane and Kalyan and will be handed over 10 to 15 mins late.

11029 CSMT-Kolhapur Koyna Express

11055 LTT-Gorakhpur Godan Express

11061 LTT-Jaynagar Express

16345 LTT-Thiruvanathapuram Netravati Express

61003 Vasai Road-Diva MEMU departing Vasai Road at 09.50 hrs will be short terminated at Kopar

61004 Diva – Vasai Road MEMU will short originate from Kopar and will depart Kopar at at 11.45 hrs.

There will be no Mega Block on Harbour & Trans-Harbour line (except Traffic block on Kurla-Tilaknagar section)

These maintenance mega blocks are essential for infrastructure upkeep and safety. Passengers are requested to bear with the Railway Administration for the inconvenience caused.

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Maharashtra

Demand to cancel Bhiwandi Road footpath expansion project will only benefit builder lobby: Azmi alleges

Published

13 hours ago

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September 13, 2025

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Mumbai Maharashtra Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi has demanded from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to stop the demolition of religious places, houses and projects in the name of road and footpath expansion in Bhiwandi and protect religious places, temples, mosques and houses. Earlier, the government and MMRDA had spent an additional Rs 1700 crore on projects to protect the victims of the metro project. Abu Asim Azmi demanded from Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde that in the new development project of Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation, a proposal has been made to widen the road by 6-6 meters from Rajiv Gandhi Chowk to Tim Ghar Marg, which is expected to make thousands of people homeless and unemployed, and temples and mosques will also be affected by this project, so this project should be canceled immediately. Azmi alleged that this project is causing a lot of hardship to the people and also endangering the existence of many religious places, so this project and plan should be stopped and a new plan should be prepared. Azmi said that this project and the expansion of roads and footpaths will only benefit the builder lobby, so the government should consider it so that the citizens of Bhiwandi get justice.

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Maharashtra

Thane: 22-Year-Old Woman Assaults Employer At His Store Over Harassment; Probe Underway

Published

14 hours ago

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September 13, 2025

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Thane: A 22-year-old woman allegedly harassed by her employer thrashed him at his store in Maharashtra’s Thane district, prompting the police to intervene in the matter, police said on Saturday.

The police are probing the incident that occurred in the Kalyan East area on Thursday evening, but no case has been registered, an official said.

In a video that surfaced on social media, the woman can be seen thrashing the 55-year-old shopkeeper with a slipper at his clothing store.

The woman has alleged that her employer harassed her by sending obscene text messages on her mobile phone.

According to eyewitnesses, the woman, accompanied by her mother, reached the shop on Thursday afternoon and confronted her employer about the obscene messages and continued harassment and demanded an apology.

A crowd gathered around the shop, and the woman assaulted him.

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