GEORGE TOWN, Jan 6 — A Nepalese woman charged and jailed for abortion in November, had been appointed a Hindi interpreter, her lawyers told the High Court today.
V. Amareson, lead counsel for Nirmala Thapa, 24, told the court that an interpreter appointed for Nirmala spoke to her in Hindi instead of Nepali when she was charged in the Sessions Court.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Nordin Hassan then stated he would need to look at the notes of the proceedings to determine if a Hindi interpreter was indeed appointed for Nirmala.
He then postponed the case to January 12 as he needed to look at the notes of proceedings first before hearing the application from Nirmala.
Nirmala was convicted and sentenced to one year's jail on November 12 last year by the Bukit Mertajam Sessions Court. She is believed to be the first woman in Malaysia to be charged and convicted for abortion.
She was convicted under Section 315 for conducting an act to prevent a child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth.
Abortion is permitted under Section 312 of the Penal Code where there is an exception for a registered medical practitioner to terminate a pregnancy if the medical practitioner is of the opinion that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life, physical and mental health of the pregnant woman.
Through her counsels, Amareson and V.Parthipan, she submitted an application for leave to appeal and for revision of the case.
Amareson said their application hoped to do two things — firstly, for leave to appeal the conviction and secondly, for the court to exercise its judiciary powers to review the whole case.
Nirmala, accompanied by her partner, went to a government-approved clinic Poliklinik Ng to have her pregnancy terminated for health, mental and social reasons on October 9 last year.
The medical practitioner had performed the procedure, according to the Health Ministry guidelines, and when Nirmala was resting in the clinic after the operation, there was a raid conducted by the police and health department officials.
The doctor, Nirmala and her partner were detained for questioning while medical reports, documents, computers and medical products were seized from the clinic.
Nirmala has been in custody since then while the doctor and her partner were released.
Human rights and women groups had taken up her case, arguing that there was a miscarriage of justice against a migrant worker here.
E.Gnasegaran, watching brief for Bar Council Malaysia, said they are concerned over the legality of the case especially when she is charged under Section 315 when she did not perform the abortion on herself but had it performed by a medical practitioner.
Cecil Rajendra, who is watching brief for National Women Rights Society (Hakam), is insistent that the fact she was charged and convicted under the section is a miscarriage of justice.
