The Supreme Court on Saturday expressed its displeasure over the Gujarat High Court's rejection of a rape victim's plea for medical termination of her 26-week pregnancy, saying "valuable time" was lost while the case was pending.
In a special hearing on Saturday, Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan observed that there should be urgency in such cases and not a "Lackadaism attitude" to treat the matter as an ordinary case and simply adjourn.
The applicant's lawyer informed the Supreme Court that the 25-year-old woman had approached the Supreme Court on August 7 and the case was taken up for hearing the next day.
He said that on August 8, the Supreme Court issued a directive to form a medical committee to ascertain the pregnancy and health status of the petitioner. The report was submitted on August 10 at the medical college where he was examined. The Supreme Court noted that the report was filed by the Supreme Court on August 11 but "strangely" the matter was filed 12 days later on August 23, "ignoring the fact that each day's delay was crucial and very important in the circumstances of the case.".
The court also noted that the applicant's lawyer informed that the situation of the case revealed that the Supreme Court rejected the petition on August 17, but the court did not dictate the reasons and the verdict has not yet been uploaded to the Supreme Court website.
"In this situation, we direct the Principal Registrar of this Court to approach the Registrar of the Gujarat High Court and clarify whether the impugned order has been uploaded or not," the judge said.

The petitioner approached the Supreme Court through advocate Vishal Arun Mishra.
Counsel for the petitioner said that the petitioner lady was in the 26th week of pregnancy when the medical board was constituted. "On August 11, it was moved to August 23. For what purpose?", asked the bench and added: "How many days have been lost so far?".
The petitioner's counsel said the matter was listed on August 17 instead of August 23.

The district court stated that valuable days were lost just by prolonging the matter, and when the petitioner requested termination of pregnancy and approached the Supreme Court, she was already 26 weeks pregnant.
"Therefore, we find that precious time elapsed from August 11, when the report was submitted to the Supreme Court, to the decision to proceed with the case on August 23," it said. "In such cases, there should not be excessive haste but at least a sense of urgency in such matters, not a mild attitude to treat it as an ordinary case and simply postpone it. We regret to say and make this observation, "the bench. said verbally.

The Supreme Court has announced that it will first consider the case on August 21. The court also sought a response from the state government and concerned agencies.