Twin girls were born from brother-in-law’s sperm and sister-in-law’s egg, who is the real mother in the eyes of the law? High Court told

The Bombay High Court settled a strange legal dispute on Tuesday. There was a fight going on over the real mother of two twin girls. The husband-wife and sister-in-law are involved in this dispute. In fact, a 42-year-old woman was allowed to meet her five-year-old twin daughters. The woman said in her petition that her daughters born through surrogacy are living with her husband and younger sister who donated the eggs.

The petitioner’s husband had claimed that since his sister-in-law had donated the eggs, she has the legitimate right to be called the biological mother of the twins and his wife has no right over them. However, a single bench of Justice Milind Jadhav rejected the husband’s argument and said that the petitioner’s younger sister is the egg donor but she has no legitimate right to claim that she is the biological mother of the twins.

The court said that the role of the younger sister is to donate the egg, but she is a voluntary donor and at the most she qualifies to become a genetic mother, nothing more than that. The amicus curiae appointed to assist the court in the case informed that the surrogacy agreement between the separated couple was made in 2018. At that time the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021 was not in force, so the guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2005 apply to this agreement.

Petitioner will have daughters
The court said that as per the guidelines, the donor and the surrogate mother will have to give up all parental rights. It also said that in the present case the twin girls will be the daughters of the petitioner and her husband. According to the petition, the couple could not conceive through normal process and the petitioner’s sister voluntarily came forward to donate her eggs.

The baby was conceived by a surrogate mother in December 2018 and twin girls were born in August 2019. In April 2019, the egg donor sister and her family were involved in a road accident in which her husband and daughter died.

The petitioner lived with her husband and twin daughters from August 2019 to March 2021. Following marital discord in March 2021, the husband moved to another flat with the children without informing his wife. The husband claimed that his sister-in-law (the egg donor) had gone into depression after a road accident and started living with him to take care of the twins.

The petitioner lodged a police complaint and filed an application in a local court seeking interim visitation rights with his daughters. The local court rejected his application in September 2023, following which he approached the High Court.

Tags: Bombay High Court