Lawyer seeks to quash conviction of Nepalese in abortion case

GEORGE TOWN: The lawyer of Nepalese Nirmala Thapa who was sentenced to a year’s jail over an abortion case is filing papers to quash her conviction and sentence.

Nirmala’s counsel Cecil Rajendra said that according to the charge sheet, his 24-year-old client was not charged and sentenced for “undergoing” or “procuring” an abortion, but for “performing” an abortion.

“That is, self-aborting at the clinic in Bukit Mertajam,” he said in a statement yesterday.

On Nov 12, Nirmala, a factory worker, was charged and sentenced at the Bukit Mertajam Sessions Court under Section 315 of the Penal Code for an act done with the intent to prevent a child from being born alive or to cause it to die after birth.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail defended the case.

Providing a chronology of the event leading to his client’s conviction and sentence, Rajendra said Nirmala went to the Government-approved clinic on Oct 9 with her partner to have her pregnancy lawfully terminated for health, mental and social reasons.

“The qualified medical practitioner performed the procedure by strictly following the Health Ministry’s guidelines and the termination is legally approved under Section 312 of the Penal Code.

“While Nirmala was resting in the clinic, there was a raid conducted by the police and Health Department officials,” he said.

He said Nirmala, her partner and the doctor were interrogated and their statements recorded.

“Her partner and the doctor were released, but she was remanded at the Seberang Perai prison in Jawi pending further investigations.”

Rajendra said his firm wrote to the officer-in-charge on Nov 7 about his appointment as Nirmala’s lawyer and inquired about the nature of the charge and the date Nirmala would be produced in court.

He said that the prison had acknowledged the receipt of the letter from his firm, but later, Nirmala was produced, without her legal representatives’ knowledge, at the sessions court where the sentence was meted out.

“It is important to note that Nirmala was convicted and sentenced in the absence of her lawyers; and probably without the benefit of a properly-qualified Nepalese court interpreter,” he added.

“This in itself is a breach of the rules of natural justice,” he added.