The Supreme Court of India on Thursday Aked the government to
clarify its stand on the citizenship of children born to an Indian
surrogate mother in India, but whose biological mother is a foreign
national.
“Under the Constitution, a child born here
from an Indian surrogate mother is entitled to Indian citizenship, but
what happens if the biological mother is a foreign citizen and the child
applies for citizenship of that country,” a Bench led by Justice
Ranajan Gogoi asked.
The Bench is
looking into the larger issue of the need for a “comprehensive
legislation” dealing with all the issues and situations, citizenship of a
surrogate child, created by the latest reproductive technology.
The
problem of citizenship of a surrogate child was highlighted in the case
of two twin babies born to an Indian surrogate mother and a German
father in 2008. The two boys — Balaz Nikolas and Balaz Leonard, whose
father is German national Jan Balaz — were conceived by an Indian woman
in Anand district of Gujarat in January 2008.
Today,
Justice Gogoi suggested whether the government could even consider dual
citizenship for surrogate children born in such circumstances.
“The
concept of dual citizenship for surrogate children born in certain
circumstances could be considered. This dual citizenship can give
limited entitlements to such children,” Justice Gogoi suggested to Mr.
Mehta.
The ASG informed that a Bill - Assisted
Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill - was introduced in the
parliament in 2010, and he would get instruction on the status of the
Bill.
The court has listed the case for hearing after 6 weeks to hear the reply from the government.
Keywords
needless to say this is a very important development for Surrogacy in India as the USA is the only country at present which provides babies born through Surrogacy with an American passport if the baby has been born on AMerican Soil.
needless to say this is a very important development for Surrogacy in India as the USA is the only country at present which provides babies born through Surrogacy with an American passport if the baby has been born on AMerican Soil.
