Single Mom Moves Bombay HC to get Birth Certificate for Child

A single mother from Nalasopara area of Mumbai has moved the Bombay High Court in order to get her child’s birth certificate. The woman conceived the baby with the help of a sperm donor and so the infant doesn’t have a father which is making it difficult for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to issue her a birth certificate.

“The child is a test tube baby. An unknown person gave the sperms for the baby,” said her advocate Uday Warunjikar. The mother says that she does not want to divulge the name of the sperm donor.

A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Pradeep Deshmukh forwarded the petition to BMC.

Earlier in August 2016, the woman gave birth to the girl child  and subsequemtly she applied for her birth certificate. Her application reached the BMC office and the officials acknowledged it in December but did not decide anything on it after that.

“Independently, the petitioner submits that otherwise also she is not interested in disclosing the name of the father. One cannot compel a single mother to approach the court of law and get an order of non-disclosure of the name of the father. Therefore, interference of the court is necessary.”

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There is no necessity to go to court to obtain a direction, she says in her petition. She added, “Independently, the petitioner submits that otherwise also she is not interested in disclosing the name of the father. One cannot compel a single mother to approach the court of law and get an order of non-disclosure of the name of the father. Therefore interference of the court is necessary.”

She referred to a 2015 Supreme Court judgement that said that if a single parent/ unwed mother applies for a birth certificate for a child, the authorities may only require her to produce an affidavit to that effect. “The judgment is binding on the respondents (BMC) but the respondents have failed, avoided and neglected to comply with the said SC direction,” her petition stated.

She seeks the Mumbai High Court to instruct BMC to issue her child’s birth certificate without the father’s name. She also does not want to “share, disclose, circulate and/or give inspection of the record about the birth” to anyone.

The bench has demanded the BMC to surface the birth-record register at the next hearing in March. And considering that BMC has already taken so much, the bench does not want to give any more time to the authority.

Picture credit- Peacequarters.com