SC refuses to acquit man in abortion case

New Delhi, Nov 15 (UNI) The Supreme Court today refused to acquit a man who fraudently aborted his unborn child with the help of his accomplice and further reduced their quantam of punishment.

A bench comprising Justices G P Mathur and Altamas Kabir let off Huasi Mohan Barman and his co-accused Abinash Biswas by reducing their sentence of three years to the period already undergone by both of them.

The case pertains to the forced abortion of Haleswari's unborn child in the pharmacy of co-accused Biswas. Haleswari was not married to Barman at that time.

Following this, Haleswari lodged a complaint and the trial court in Kokrajhar, Assam sentenced the two accused to five years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 7000 each for an offence under section 313/34 of the IPC.

The Guwahati High Court, in its judgement dated January 2, 2007, had reduced the sentence to three years with a fine of Rs 5000 each.

During the pendency of the appeal in the apex court, Barman and Haleswari got married. An affidavit was filed by Haleswari asking for the acquittal of her husband.

The Apex court in its judgement dated November 13 noted, '' We are of the opinion that the complainant and the principal accused having already married, it will be in the interest of justice if the sentence is reduced to the period already undergone.

The appeal is accordingly partly allowed. The conviction of the appealants under Section 313 (IPC) is maintained but the sentence is reduced to the period already undergone which appears to be about ten months. The fine imposed upon the appellants is also set aside.'' UNI