10-year-old girl who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather to have an abortion.

A local court sitting in New Delhi, India ruled on Tuesday that doctors were free to conduct an abortion on a 10-year-old girl who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather, a day laborer in his early 20s, India today reported.

According to authorities, the victim's mother had requested the court to allow the abortion of the foetus after she was repeatedly raped by her stepfather who already has been arrested and detained at a police station in the northern town of Rohtak.

The pregnancy came to light last week after the girl's mother suspected her child was pregnant and took her to see a doctor, who confirmed that she was between 18 to 22 weeks pregnant.

Worthy of note is that, Indian law does not permit abortions after 20 weeks unless the woman's life is in danger. But after the medical board of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGI) comprising of seven doctors including three gynecologists met in court Tuesday for the case, they decided to abort the five-month-old foetus of the 10-year-old rape victim.

Confirming the court ruling on Wednesday, Dr. S. K. Dhattarwal, head of the medical team, said that, with the court decision, the medical board would perform the procedure as soon as possible.

He said that if the victim was to keep the pregnancy she 'will face psychological trauma; the pregnancy is not that advanced now." On that basis, he added, 'We have started the process during the day today."