Man, Fighting Divorce, Wanted Child Through Surrogacy. What Court Said

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a man's plea seeking a no objection certificate from his estranged wife for having a child through surrogacy.

The man, 54, stated that because of his advancing age and the fact that the conclusion of the divorce proceedings would take a long time, he had no option but to have a child through surrogacy to "carry his DNA line forward".

He also assailed a family court order refusing to direct the estranged wife to issue the no objection certificate for a surrogate mother.

A bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait observed that it was difficult to comprehend the husband's intention to have a child through surrogacy during the subsistence of the marriage as it may lead to unwarranted complications not only for the couple but also for the child.

It stated that The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, provides for a comprehensive procedure to be followed in case a person intends to have a child through surrogacy and in the present case, the woman rightly rejected the husband's plea.

It noted that under the law, the child is to be handed over to the "intending couple" by the woman and the Act defines a couple as "legally married Indian man and woman above the age of 21 years and 18 years respectively".

"We find no merit in the appeal, whereby the appellant has sought a child through surrogacy without following the procedures as enacted in the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, which is hereby dismissed," the bench, also comprising Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, said in a recent order.

"The divorce petition has been filed only in 2022 and his claim that he is now 54 years old and the divorce petition may take long, does not appeal to reason. He may seek expeditious disposal of his divorce petition," the court ruled.

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