Govt probe on Nayanthara-Vignesh Shivan ‘surrogacy’ to clear air, no complaints so far, says Tamil Nadu health official

Govt probe on Nayanthara-Vignesh Shivan ‘surrogacy’ to clear air, no complaints so far, says Tamil Nadu health official

Subject : Science and Technology

Context: TN government took a suo moto decision to probe the legalities surrounding actor Nayanthara and her husband Vignesh Shivan’s purported choice to opt for surrogacy.

Details

The committee, headed by a joint director-rank official, has been assigned to look into whether the couple — Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan — complied with the law while choosing surrogacy.Commercial surrogacy has been outlawed in India by the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act in December 2021, which came into effect on January 25, 2022. Only ‘altruistic surrogacy’ is now permitted, in which the bearing mother receives no financial assistance other than medical expenses.

Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021

• Under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, a woman who is a widow or a divorcee between the age of 35 to 45 years or a couple, defined as a legally married woman and man, can avail of surrogacy if they have a medical condition necessitating this option.
• The law defines a couple as a married Indian “man and woman” and prescribes an age band of 23 to 50 for the woman and 26 to 55 for the man to opt for surrogacy.
• Single men are not eligible.
• It also bans commercial surrogacy, which is punishable with a jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakhs.
• The law allows only altruistic surrogacy where no money exchanges hands and where a surrogate mother is genetically related to those seeking a child, a married woman between the age of 25 and 35.