Age 10 and 7 Months Pregnant

She loves Pokemon, chocolates, puppies and English. And, she had her childhood taken away by an ‘uncle’

- Namita Kohli

Ten-year-old Tina’s summer vacations seem to have been extended. It’s early August, but the Class 6 student has not been to school yet. “She just watches cartoons all day. She loves Pokemon!” said Rina, her 13-year-old sister, giggling.

Tina stays at home through the day, watches “cartoons and films with mother” and has a siesta, said Rina. Some evenings, the sisters play badminton. Every now and then, they experiment with their mother’s eyebrow pencil, or even her bright pink lip colour. “Sometimes, she draws too,” Rina told me, while on her way back from school on a hot, humid afternoon in Chandigarh.

The family of four lives in a one-room house, with bare brick walls and a tin roof covered with dry twigs. These days, there is a constant trickle of visitors—reporters pleading with the mother to let them meet Tina, social workers asking after her health, NGO professionals offering assistance, and policemen following up on the case.

Tina, the chubby pre-teen who “loves chocolates”, is about 32 weeks pregnant. In mid-July, the family discovered that she was pregnant; her ‘uncle’—a relative of her mother—had been raping her for several months when the mother was out for work. A report was filed against him, resulting in his arrest. Subsequently, the family approached the local court seeking permission for an abortion.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, does not allow abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, unless it is a threat to the life of the woman. But, the court can decide after the ceiling. In this case, the district court asked the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, Chandigarh, to constitute a committee to examine the medical merits.