In a landmark judgment, the Bombay High Court declared that sperm or egg donors do not have legal rights over children born from their genetic material and cannot claim biological parenthood. The ruling came as the court granted a 42-year-old woman visitation rights to her twin daughters born through surrogacy.
The case involved a complex family dispute where the woman’s husband argued that his sister, the egg donor for the twins, should be considered their biological parent, thereby denying his wife any parental rights. However, Justice Milind Jadhav dismissed this claim, stating that the role of the egg donor is limited to that of a genetic contributor, without any subsequent parental rights or responsibilities.
The court relied on the guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2005, which governed the surrogacy agreement made by the couple in 2018 before the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act of 2021 was enacted. According to these guidelines, both the donor and the surrogate must relinquish all parental rights upon the birth of the child.
The judgment also addressed the personal tragedies and marital discord within the family. Following a severe road accident that impacted the egg donor’s immediate family, the petitioner’s husband moved out with the twins, alleging his wife’s inability to care for them due to the egg donor’s depressive state post-accident. This led the wife to seek legal recourse to obtain visitation rights after being separated from her daughters.
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Justice Jadhav criticized the lower court’s decision to deny visitation rights, calling it unsustainable and improperly reasoned. He ordered that the petitioner be allowed to visit her daughters for three hours every weekend, reaffirming her status as a legal parent along with her husband.
