The detailed report submitted by a panel of expert doctors,who examined the issue of abortion of the 19-year-old mentally challenged girl raped at Nari Niketan,was taken on record by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday. The report,which was submitted in a sealed envelope,was opened in the court by a Division Bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Augustine George Masih. Later,the two Judges read the report and handed it over to advocate Anupam Gupta,the senior standing counsel for UT Administration,and senior advocate R S Cheema,the amicus curiae in the case. Underlining the sensitivity of the case,the Bench requested both the lawyers to not disclose the contents of the report till Monday,when the case will come up for hearing. Considering the sensitivity of the case,we would like that the contents of the report should not be made public till you argue the case on Monday, the Bench observed. Both lawyers have sought time till Monday to go through the report and prepare their cases. Justice Surya Kant said,Everything will be made public but at the right time. Expressing deep concern over the delay in reaching a definite conclusion,when Justice Kant inquired about the pregnancy,Anupam Gupta informed that the pregnancy was 15 weeks and 2 days old. And according to doctors,to avoid complications,the pregnancy should be aborted before it is 20 weeks old. Time is an important consideration, Justice Kant observed. The counsel were informed that besides the report submitted by the expert panel,comprising four doctors,another report has been submitted by the psychiatry department. The counsel were also informed that the entire report has been further compiled by Additional District and Sessions Judge Raj Rahul Garg,who was appointed by the High Court. Unlike earlier hearings,Anupam Gupta expressed satisfaction over the investigation carried out by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Chandigarh Police in the case. All we would ask you is that is it going in the right direction ? Justice Kant asked Gupta. In his reply,Gupta said the SIT had made up for its flaws and that credit goes to the court. Earlier,despite being a representative of the Administration,Gupta had strongly deprecated the conduct of the Chandigarh Police in not carrying out a fair investigation. Justice Ranjit Singh Randhawa,in a separate order,had condemned the investigation. Meanwhile,Gupta sought time to place on record the status report of the investigation carried out so far and the affidavit of the Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police,as demanded by the High Court on the last date of hearing.
