The High Court in London has upheld a decision not to prosecute two doctors who were revealed to have offered sex-selective abortions.
On Tuesday Lord Justice Burnett and Mr Justice Irwin refused permission for pro-life campaigner Aisling Hubert to seek a judicial review of the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) decision not to press charges.
In March the CPS blocked Hubert’s private prosecution against the medics, saying that although there was “sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction”, it was not”in the public interest” to take action.
Investigation
Dr Prabha Sivaraman and Dr Palaniappan Rajmohan were both filmed in 2012 agreeing to arrange abortions on the grounds of sex during an undercover Telegraph investigation.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service dropped its investigation into Dr Sivaraman, but in November Dr Rajmohan was struck off for three months.
Sex-selective abortion prosecution “not in the public interest”
Hubert’s barrister Paul Diamond told the High Court that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the CPS had made an “error of law”.
Political reasons
But Mr Justice Irwin said there was never going to be an abortion and the only evidence concerned “preparatory acts” revealed by a newspaper investigation.
The judges are to set out their full reasons at a later date.
Speaking ahead of the High Court decision, Hubert said: “The video evidence is stark and straightforward but for political and ideological reasons, it is being blocked from exposure to the proper scrutiny of justice in court”.
Pursuit of justice
Hubert’s case is being backed by Christian Concern.
Before the ruling, its CEO Andrea Minichiello Williams said: “The office of the DPP was created to ensure that justice was done even where individuals didn’t have the resolve or resource to pursue a prosecution themselves.
“But here we have seen the DPP’s office first refuse to prosecute and then go further still by blocking private prosecutions that were brought, as a last resort, in the pursuit of justice. This overreach of establishment power must be challenged.”
She added: “At all stages of this case, there have been major challenges, but Aisling has been determined to carry on and speak on behalf of the unborn child”.