Foetus older than 5 months would be treated as ‘person’ in eyes of law: HC

The Allahabad High Court held on Friday that an unborn child of more than five months’ gestation would be treated as a person in the eyes of the law and its death in an accident would entitle the family to separate compensation.

Justice Prashant Kumar of the court’s Lucknow bench delivered the judgment while allowing a first appeal against an order of the Railway Claims Tribunal here that had awarded compensation only for the death of a pregnant woman and denied relief for an unborn child. The case pertains to a tragic incident on September 2, 2018, at the Barabanki railway station, where Bhanmati, who was eight to nine months pregnant, fell while attempting to board a train and sustained serious injuries. She later died during treatment and the unborn child also did not survive.

The tribunal had granted a compensation of Rs 8 lakh for the woman’s death under provisions related to untoward railway incidents but not recognised the foetus as a separate entity for the relief. The victim’s family subsequently approached the high court, challenging the decision.

Allowing the appeal, the court held that a foetus beyond a certain stage of development acquires the status of an independent life and that the loss of such a foetus cannot be ignored. It was observed that the death of the unborn child must be treated on par with the death of a child for the purpose of compensation.