A court in Japan has ordered the government to pay 27.5 million yen ($239,000) in damages to three people with disabilities over forced sterilization, after ruling the now-defunct eugenics protection law unconstitutional, local media reported. The three include a woman in her 70s with an intellectual disability, who underwent forced sterilization in 1965, and a couple in their 80s and 70s with hearing impairments, of whom the wife was forced to undergo sterilization in 1974. The victims sought a total of 55 million yen ($478,000) in damages, but their claims were dismissed in district courts due to the statute of limitations expiring 20 years after they had been forcibly sterilized. The verdict was overturned by the Osaka High Court on Tuesday, which ruled that the statute of limitations should not be enforced as it “extremely contravenes justice and fairness,” local media Kyodo News reported. The court concluded in its decision that …