The Bombay High Court has ordered the municipal corporation of Mumbai to issue a fresh birth certificate for a girl, replacing the name of her mother’s former husband with that of her biological father.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Ranjitsinha Bhonsale issued the directive on Monday. The bench ruled in favor of a petition filed by the mother, relying on a DNA paternity test and a joint affidavit submitted by the child’s biological parents.
Municipal Corporation Rejected Correction Request
The legal action followed a decision by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to deny the mother’s administrative request to amend her daughter’s birth record. Represented by advocate Uday Warunjikar, the mother subsequently turned to the High Court to challenge the civic body’s refusal.
Chronology Of Legal Dispute
According to court filings, the petitioner married her first husband in February 2006, but the marriage produced no children. Following marital differences, the couple began living separately. During this period of separation, and prior to obtaining a formal divorce decree, the woman entered a relationship with her partner.
The daughter was born in December 2009. Because the birth occurred while the woman was still legally married, she recorded her then-husband’s name in the father’s column on the official birth certificate issued in March 2010.
Scientific Evidence Confirming Paternity
The woman and her first husband finalized their divorce in 2013, after which she married her partner. She then requested the BMC to update the father’s details on the certificate to reflect the biological parentage.
To substantiate her claims in court after the BMC’s refusal, the mother submitted a DNA analysis alongside affidavits establishing her new husband as the child’s biological father. The High Court accepted these submissions, ordering the civic body to delete the ex-husband’s name and insert the biological father’s name.
