A single mother on Tuesday moved the Bombay High Court, seeking that the civic authorities issue a birth certificate to her child without the father’s name, PTI reported. The 31-year-old Nalasopara resident, who had had a daughter using a sperm donor, said she should not be forced to disclose the father’s name.
The bench of justices Abhay Oka and Pradeep Deshmukh asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to file a reply to the woman’s plea within two weeks. In December 2017, the court had issued a notice to the BMC, but the corporation is yet to respond to it.
The petitioner had her daughter in August 2016 using in vitro fertilisation. She had initially requested the BMC’s birth registration department to allow her to not mention the father’s name. However, when the civic authorities refused to grant her permission, she approached the High Court.
The petitioner has cited a 2015 landmark judgement of the Supreme Court that said single mothers must not be compelled to disclose the name of their child’s biological father in the birth certificates. “The judgment is binding on the respondents [BMC],” her petition stated, according to The Times of India. “However, the respondents have failed, avoided and neglected to comply with the said Supreme Court direction.”
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