In a groundbreaking decision, the Delhi High Court has granted an Indian couple the right to access their late son’s frozen sperm, allowing them to pursue surrogacy to have a grandchild.
The ruling follows a four-year legal battle with the hospital that initially refused their request, as reported by the BBC
Harbir Kaur and Gurvinder Singh, whose 30-year-old son Preet Inder Singh passed away from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in September 2020, were determined to preserve their son’s legacy. Before undergoing chemotherapy, doctors had advised Preet to freeze his semen, as the treatment could harm his fertility. Preet, unmarried at the time, took the advice and froze a sample in June 2020. After his death, the grieving parents sought to retrieve the sample from Delhi’s Ganga Ram Hospital, but the hospital denied their request.
Resolute in their desire to carry on their son’s lineage, the couple turned to the Delhi High Court
They argued that they wished to raise a child using Preet’s sperm, with assurances from their daughters that the child would be cared for if they were unable to do so in the future.
Last week, Justice Prathiba Singh ruled in favor of the couple. She clarified that Indian law does not prohibit posthumous reproduction if the deceased has given consent. Preet’s parents, being his legal heirs under the Hindu Succession Act, were entitled to access his sperm.
The couple, now in their 60s, expressed that this ruling gives them a way to honor their son’s memory and continue their family line
Their lawyer, Suruchii Aggarwal, highlighted that although rare, this case is not without precedent. She pointed to similar cases in India and abroad, including a notable one in Pune from 2018 and a 2002 case in Israel, where parents used their deceased son’s sperm for surrogacy.
The hospital had initially argued that sperm could only be released to a spouse, citing unclear guidelines on transferring sperm to legal heirs when the deceased was unmarried. Additionally, the Indian government opposed the petition, pointing to restrictions in the Surrogacy Act 2021, which is designed to help infertile couples or women, not for grandparental surrogacy.
However, Aggarwal successfully argued that Preet’s completion of a form indicating his sperm was for IVF and providing his father’s contact details constituted implied consent for his parents to use the sample. Justice Singh agreed, concluding that Preet intended for his sperm to be used to have children, thereby granting the parents access.
With this ruling, the family is now moving forward with surrogacy plans, with a relative offering to act as the surrogate.
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