New Delhi: Expressing concern over the
plight of children born of surrogate mothers, the Supreme
Court today said these children cannot be treated as a
"commodity" and it would examine the validity of growing
practice of surrogacy in the country.
The apex court said surrogate children could be
"state-less" without any citizenship if foreign countries fail
to recognize them as their citizens when they are taken by the
commissioning parents.
"In Germany, what will be there status? There is a
larger issue involved. We are concerned purely with the human
angle. The children cannot be treated as a commodity.
""Will they not become stateless, Mr Rao (counsel)? If
you can show that they will be given citizenship, we will
direct the Union of India to issue them the necessary
documents. Government of India is right as it only wants to
remove the ambiguity," the apex court said while dealing with
an appeal filed by the Centre.
The Centre had filed the appeal challenging a Gujarat
High Court order which had directed the government to grant
citizenship to the twins of a German couple Jan Balaz and
Susane L’o’hle born through a surrogate Indian woman.
The apex court was of the view that the practice of
surrogacy has become a sort of trade as surrogate mothers in
most cases are illiterate with little understanding of the
contract entered into with the commissioning parents for
monetary considerations.
"Do we have any statistics? In how many states is the
practice of surrogacy going on in the country? What is the
amount a surrogate mother receives? Unfortunately, we measure
every thing in terms of money. There is an education cess on
liquor!.
"The contract is entered into by the women. But do
they even know the language of the contract?" the apex court
asked Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam.
The solicitor general said there are no official
statistics with him but remarked that even the Law Commission
had commented that surrogacy was an "industry".
The remark only irked the bench which said "with
great respect to the Law Commission we do not agree with its
term 'industry'.
The apex court said since larger issues were involved
in surrogacy practice, it asked the Solicitor General to frame
relevant points on the issue so that it couuld examine the
same in February.
Referring to the present case, the apex court asked
senior counsel Nageswara Rao, appearing for the German couple,
to file an affidavit that the children, if taken to Germany,
would definitely be given citizenship of that country.
-PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 23:30