A very prudent idea for anyone working with a married Indian surrogate:

Allowing an American citizen’s plea, a Delhi court has ordered that he would be considered as the “legal and biological” father of twins born through surrogacy here. The order came after the New York-resident expressed apprehensions their could be a “presumption under the Indian laws” that the surrogate mother’s husband is the father of the twins.

The court noted that there is no specific legislation or law which governs surrogacy in India but the guidelines issued by Indian Council of Medical Research and National Academy of Medical Sciences state that “the surrogate mother is not considered to be the legal mother”.

The American told the court that an Indian woman had agreed to act as a surrogate mother by renting her womb to give birth to his child by way of an embryo transfer in her uterus through In vitro fertilisation process by which an egg is fertilised by sperm outside the body. He moved the court saying that since the surrogate mother was already married their could be a “presumption under the Indian laws” that her husband is the father of the twins.

The court allowed his plea after noting statements of the surrogate mother and her husband, who said they had “no objection if the custody of the children is given to the plaintiff (American) and the plaintiff is the lawful father and guardian of these children”. Civil Judge Shreya Arora said “I am also of opinion that there is no impediment legal or otherwise in granting the decree as prayed for by the plaintiff, more so when defendants (surrogate mother and her husband) have accepted the facts leading to conception and delivery of the two children by the woman as surrogate mother and have also given their no objection to this”. “Accordingly, the suit is decreed in terms as prayed for by the plaintiff,” the court said