Hyderabad: For the very first time in India, Hyderabad passport officials have issued a passport to an Non Resident Indian (NRI) couple’s surrogate baby, after getting the baby’s DNA report from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB).
Till now, the passport guidelines did not include babies born out of surrogacy and there was a mandate for a biological declaration by the father of the baby to get a passport. This is the very first time that even surrogate babies have been given the facility of getting passports issued on their names.
In two similar cases last year, one involving a US-based Hyderabadi couple and another involving a Jamaican and American couple, who wanted surrogate babies born to Indian women, DNA reports were sought.
The Jamaican woman, who approached the Jamaican consulate in Delhi, was directed to the passport officer in Hyderabad. Finally, an identity certificate to the newborn surrogate baby, with a verification report, was submitted by the Hyderabad police and the woman was able to go home with her son.
“After encountering such a rare case, the Regional Passport Officer wrote to the ministry of external affairs seeking guidelines for such cases. But so far no such guidelines have been received,” an official said.
One issue that still needs to be addressed pertains to the name to be mentioned on the surrogate baby’s passport. Should it be the biological mother’s name, or should surrogacy be mentioned?
