Issue new birth certificates sans dad’s name to single mother: HC orders BMC

The Bombay High Court today directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to issue new birth certificates for a girl child born through the test tube process without mentioning her biological father's name.

A bench of Justices AS Oka and RI Chagla also directed the civic body to recall the birth certificates bearing the name of the girl's father on them that have already been issued, and to re-issue certificates with a blank space where the father's name should be. The bench was hearing a plea filed by a single woman from Nallasopara in Palghar district who gave birth to a child in August 2016 through test tube process with the sperm obtained from a donor.

The petitioner had said that she did not want to disclose the name of the sperm donor and requested the high court to direct the BMC's ward office concerned to issue a birth certificate for the child without mentioning the father's name.

Her petition also cited a 2015 judgement of the Supreme Court that mandated that if a single or unmarried mother applies for a birth certificate and files an affidavit seeking that the father's name be withheld, such a certificate must be issued without insisting on the name of the child's biological father.

Last week, the BMC had produced the child's birth certificate and the original records before the high court.