AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Monday directed that custody of a six-day-old girl be given to her biological parents after her surrogate mother, who is facing a criminal trial and has been in judicial custody, was to head back to jail.
The bench of Justice V M Pancholi and Justice S N Bhatt considered provisions of the surrogacy agreement inked on December 21, 2021, between the biological parents and the surrogate, and the law, and observed that there is no time limit mentioned for which the child is to be retained by the surrogate for breastfeeding. Therefore, custody should be given to the biological parents, the court said. In this case, a couple from Ajmer opted for surrogacy after they were not blessed with a child during their long married life. They signed a contract with a 31-year-old divorcee from Lakhvad village in Mehsana district, who would be the surrogate mother. In February, she was accused of being a member of a gang which was booked for allegedly abducting a four-month old girl and selling her for Rs 2 lakh to another accused person. The surrogate mother in this case was arrested for charges under Sections 363, 370, 370 (a), 120 B, 114 of the IPC and Section 81, 84, 87 of The Juvenile Justice Act. On April 6, a city sessions court denied her bail and she has been in Sabarmati jail since.
The surrogate was brought to Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, for delivery and gave birth to a girl child on June 21. The biological parents went to get the child and the medical authorities gave custody of the child to the parents.
However, the police objected and insisted that the couple could not take the child without a court order because the surrogate mother was in judicial custody.
The biological parents rushed to the high court and explained their hurry stating that if custody of the child was not immediately handed over, she would be sent to jail with the surrogate mother.
The surrogacy agreement made it clear that the child’s custody would be handed over immediately after birth. The surrogate also filed an affidavit expressing willingness to give the child to her biological parents.
