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The 10-year old girl  has now delivered a baby

A 10-year-old sexual abuse victim in India whose abortion plea was turned down by the country’s Supreme Court has delivered a baby.

The child, who was repeatedly raped, had a Caesarean section on Thursday. The girl did not know she was pregnant and was unaware she had delivered a baby. Her parents told their daughter she was undergoing stomach surgery to remove a stone. “The girl is doing fine; she is recovering. We expect she will be discharged early next week,” said Dasari Harish, a physician who heads a committee overseeing the girl’s care.

The minor, whose identity has been kept secret, delivered a baby girl in a state hospital in the northwestern city of Chandigarh, Harish said.

The girl was repeatedly raped by her uncle over seven months. Almost 11 000 rape cases were reported in 2015.

The crime came to light when the girl was taken to hospital complaining of a stomach ache last month and was found to be around 30 weeks — or around seven months — into the pregnancy. Her uncle was arrested shortly afterwards. “The parents of the girl have refused to take custody of the child, and have agreed to her adoption through the state agency. They said they don’t even want to see the child,” Harish told Thomson Reuters Foundation.

A local court refused to grant the child an abortion, saying it was too risky at such a late stage. A plea in the Supreme Court was dismissed for the same reason on July 28. — AFP