The Bombay High Court deliberated on whether a woman with an intellectual disability can be denied the right to motherhood.

A division bench comprising Justices R.V. Ghuge and Rajesh Patil was hearing a petition filed by the father of a 27-year-old unmarried woman, seeking permission for medical termination of her 21-week pregnancy on the grounds of her intellectual limitations.

The father claimed his daughter wished to continue the pregnancy. Last week, the court directed a medical board at JJ Hospital in Mumbai to evaluate the woman's condition. The medical board's report, presented on Wednesday, concluded that the woman was not mentally unsound but had borderline intellectual disability, with an IQ of 75.

The court observed that the parents had not sought psychological counselling or treatment for their daughter, relying solely on medication since 2011. The medical board found no abnormalities in the foetus and deemed the woman medically fit to proceed with the pregnancy, though termination was also considered feasible.

Additional government pleader Prachi Tatke emphasized that the consent of the pregnant woman is paramount in such cases. The bench noted the medical board's clear assertion that the woman is not of unsound mind or mentally disabled.

"The observation (in the report) is that she has below average intelligence. Nobody can be super intelligent. We are all human beings and everybody has different levels of intelligence," the court said.

"Just because she has below average intelligence, does she have no right to be a mother? If we say that persons with below average intelligence do not have the right to be parents, it would be against the law," the HC said.

As per the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, termination of pregnancy beyond 20 weeks is permitted in cases where the woman is diagnosed as mentally ill, the court noted.

"Borderline case cannot be said to be a mental disorder. She (the pregnant woman in the present case) has not been declared as mentally ill. It is only a borderline case of intellectual functioning," the bench said.

The petitioner’s advocate informed the High Court that the woman had revealed the identity of the man she is in a relationship with, who is also the father of her unborn child.  

In response, the court directed the woman's parents to meet the man and engage with him to ascertain if he was willing to marry her.

"As parents, take the initiative and talk to the man. They are both adults. It is not an offence," the court said.

The parents adopted the woman when she was five-month-old infant, and must now do their duty as parents, it said.

The court posted the matter for further hearing on January 13.