AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
The national interest is very subjective.
I think the civil servants job is to implement the mandate of the government.
If the government requests an opinion, the civil servant can tell truth to power - or at least their interpretation of what the truth is. But once the Minister makes a decision based on that input as well as input from others (both other civil servants and political goals), the civil servant must implement the final political decision.
It is not at all subjective when it is pretty clear that the government will lose the case, will have to pay a similar level of compensation and have to cover the additional legal cost throughout the process. Unless you want to say paying extra and dragging legal matters for as long as possible to make a losing point is in the national interest, I am not sure where this is going.
Totally agree with @kEiThZ that some punitive measure should be applied to the mother in particular.
AoD