The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to respond to a petition by a couple seeking the release of the frozen sperm of their dead, unmarried son from a centre at the Ganga Ram Hospital for surrogacy.
Justice Yashwant Varma, while issuing notice to the Centre, said he would like to have its views on the matter as it would have a “repercussion” on the existing laws on the subject.
The petitioners, the father and mother of the deceased, who died at the age of 30 after being diagnosed with cancer, said their son had frozen his semen sample in 2020, before the start of chemotherapy.
The petitioners have said that being the only surviving heirs of their son, who died in September 2020, they had the foremost right over his bodily remains. The couple said they wished to use the frozen sperms for the purposes of surrogacy, so that they could “continue their son’s legacy”.
The counsel, appearing for the couple, said that the Surrogacy Act and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act (ART) were not in place at the time of the death of the petitioners’ son. Even now the two Acts do not categorically deal with such a situation, so the petitioners can apply to take possession of the frozen sperm samples, the counsel contended.
Earlier this year, the hospital had told the High Court that there was no law in the country to release the frozen semen sample of an unmarried male to his parents or legal heirs. In an affidavit filed before the court, the hospital had said that the ART regulation does not specify the procedure of disposal or utilisation of the semen sample of an unmarried person.
The High Court will hear the case again on January 19.
