SC to frame guidelines on surrogacy

A bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi asked Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to give the views of the government as the country has no law to regulate surrogacy. “Many poor women in the country are being exploited for a few thousand rupees,’’ the bench said.

Subramanium said the government was ready to make one-time exception by issuing passports to the twins born to a surrogate Indian mother from the biological German father, facilitating their travel to Germany. The bench asked Jan Balaz, a German, to submit an affidavit on Wednesday stating that the German government would grant citizenship to the babies after they arrive in that country. “We are worried that the children do not become stateless or abandoned after arriving in Germany,’’ said the bench, fixing the hearing on Thursday.

The 22-month-old twins, now in Rajasthan after their birth at a nursing home in Gujarat, have been detained due to a legal wrangle as their citizenship has been questioned by the laws of both India and Germany.