Saturday 1 December 2012

Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal Issues:Criminal and legal Abortions


What is Sec 312 of the IPC?


Sec 312 of the IPC, 1860 under the heading "causing miscarriage" says that whoever voluntarily causes a woman with child to miscarry, shall, if such miscarriage be not caused in good faith for saving the life of the woman, be punished with imprisonment of either description of a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both; and, if the woman be quick with the child, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description of a term which may extend to seven years or shall also be liable to fine. Explanation to this section: a woman who causes herself to miscarry, is also punishable thereunder.
  • In Dr. Akhil Kumar v. State of M.P., 1992 LJ 2029(MP), a woman living separately from her husband for 3 to 4 years conceived as a result of illicit intercourse with her distant cousin. When her pregnancy was of 24 weeks she approached a medical practitioner who pushed Menstrogen Forte injection into her which caused her death. The literature of Menstrogen Forte clearly stated that the effect of such injection could be miscarriage. The plea of the accused physician that he had pushed that injection to determine if she was pregnant was not believed because the six month old pregnancy was writ large on her abdomen discernible from outside and the doctor was convicted for attempt to cause miscarriage.
  • The deceased mother of four children, having become pregnant was taken by her son–in–law to a quack for abortion. She was later found dead and was buried. The dead body was exhumed after about 12 days and the quack was prosecuted under Sec. 314 and convicted thereunder on circumstantial evidence. (In Maideen Sab v. State of Karnataka, 1993 Cri LJ 1430 (Kar)

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