New Delhi: In a landmark judgement the Delhi High Court held that there is no prohibition on posthumous reproduction if the consent of a sperm or egg owner can be demonstrated and directed a private hospital to release frozen gametes of a deceased man to his parents. The parents of the deceased said that they were “delighted” after the Delhi high court ordered a hospital to hand over the frozen semen sample of their dead son to them so they could have a grandchild through surrogacy. The landmark Delhi High Court order came after a four-year legal battle. “We were very unlucky, we lost our son. But the court has given us a very precious gift. We would now be able to get our son back,” the mother, Harbir Kaur, told the BBC. Ms Kaur and her husband Gurvinder Singh petitioned the court after Delhi’s Ganga Ram Hospital in December 2020 refused to release their son’s semen which was stored in their fertility lab.
The couple’s 30-year-old son, Preet Inder Singh, had been diagnosed in June 2020 with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma – a form of blood cancer – and admitted to the hospital for treatment. “Before he began chemotherapy, the hospital advised him to store his semen as the treatment could adversely affect the quality of his sperm,” Gurvinder Singh told the BBC. Preet Inder, who was unmarried, agreed and his sample was frozen on 27 June 2020. He died in early September. A few months later, when the grief-stricken parents sought access to their son’s frozen sperm, the hospital declined their request. The couple then petitioned the Delhi High Court. The couple, who are in their 60s, told the court that they would bring up any child born using their son’s semen sample. And in the event of their death, their two daughters have given an undertaking in court that they will take full responsibility for the child.
In her order last week, Justice Prathiba Singh said that “under Indian law, there was no prohibition against posthumous reproduction” if the sperm owner had given consent. She added that parents were entitled to the sample as in the absence of a spouse or children, they became legal heirs under the Hindu Succession Act. The couple say they approached the court because they wanted to carry on his “legacy” and that the order would help them preserve a connection with him and help their family name to continue. “He loved his sisters and was much loved by his friends. He is the screensaver on my phone. I start my day by looking at his face every morning,” Ms Kaur said. She did not want to share a photo of him with the BBC over privacy concerns. She added that the family was considering using his sperm in surrogacy and that a relative had agreed to be the surrogate. “We will keep it in the family,” she said. Under Indian law commercial surrogacy is illegal.
