The Penang High Court had set aside the conviction and sentence of Nirmala Thapa, a Nepali migrant worker in Malaysia who was charged with illegal abortion.
According to reports in the Malaysian media, on 11 January, the Judicial Commissioner Datuk Nordin Hassan overturned the conviction after it was found that she was charged without understanding the full consequences of her guilty plea in the absence of a Nepali interpreter.
The case was sent back to the lower courts and will be heard in the Penang Sessions Court on 25 and 26 March.
Thapa, 24, was sentenced to one year imprisonment for illegal abortion by Bukit Mertajam Sessions Court last November. She was arrested from a clinic in Bukit Mertajam during a routine inspection by the Health Ministry’s Private Medical Practice Control Unit for terminating her six-week pregnancy.
She was convicted under Section 315 of the Penal Code for preventing a child from being born alive. The offence is punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years or a hefty fine, or both.
Thapa is probably the first woman in Malaysia to be charged for abortion. Abortion is permitted in Malaysia under Section 312 of the Penal Code, as per which pregnancy can be terminated if a registered medical practitioner is of the view that continuation of pregnancy will risk the woman's life or cause injury to her mental or physical health.