The young lawyer has been instrumental in helping these women and a minor regain some amount of rights over their bodies
Sneha Mukherjee’s office at the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) in South Delhi’s Bhogal area is as busy and chaotic as the bazaar outside. However, Mukherjee is an oasis of calm amid the mountains of paper.
Through her, HRLN has handled over a dozen cases seeking medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) in the Supreme Court, and won all except one. “I saved another woman’s life,” she once excitedly told this reporter, when they bumped into each other in SC’s corridors.
The 26-year-old, who hails from Kolkata, says she took up law by chance. “I was a science student, and like all parents, mine too wanted me to pursue engineering. But I decided to take a chance and study law to figure out what I want,” she says.
As a first-year law student, Mukherjee interned with an NGO, which helped her gain an insight into how her work impact someone’s life for the better, she tells us.
This year, SC decided the fate of more than a dozen cases on medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) including that of two minors. Except in two, the top court gave its nod in all cases for MTP.
“I try to interact as much as I can with my clients. These women are from all over the country. I still worry about that woman for whom I could not secure an abortion,” she says.
Mukherjee’s first MTP case was in December 2016. “I was new to the issue of abortion rights. But then you interact with the petitioners; you realise how situations like these affect them. I spoke to gynaecologists, did as much research I could to understand more about the issue and what is the right way to address it.”
The young lawyer has been instrumental in helping these women and a minor regain some amount of rights over their bodies. “After the media’s attention to MTP cases, I have been getting a lot of calls. We are now going to publish common queries online and make access to us more systematic,” says the lawyer.
Working on these cases, one thing is clear to her; the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act needs to be discussed. Urgently. It needs to be amended to reflect the modern times, and the changes in science that are better equipped to deal with pregnancies at an advanced stage.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Sneha Mukherjee")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}