Couple Wins Legal Battle To Use Deceased Son’s Sperm To Procreate

A couple who lost their son but were refused using his sperm to procreate has won their appeal in court. They can now go ahead and produce surrogate children using their late son’s stored sperm.

The incident is stirring emotions in India after a Delhi High Court ruled that the couple has the right to use the frozen sperm of their late son, Preet Inder Singh, for surrogacy.

The ruling for the hospital to release the stored sperm came after a four-year legal struggle, according to a report monitored on BBC.

“We were very unlucky, we lost our son. But the court has given us a very precious gift. We would now be able to get our son back,” Preet’s mother, Harbir Kaur, told the BBC.

She and her husband, Gurvinder Singh, had been battling the emotions after their son was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in June 2020 and admitted for treatment, but could not make it

“Before he began chemotherapy, the hospital (Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi) advised him to store his semen as the treatment could adversely affect the quality of his sperm,” Gurvinder Singh explained. Preet Inder, who was unmarried, agreed, and his sperm sample was frozen on June 27, 2020.

He passed away in early September of the same year.

When however, Gurvinder Singh and his wife sought access to the sperm, the hospital refused them: the couple then approached the Delhi High Court.

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Justice Prathiba Singh after listening to their plea, ruled there is no prohibition, under Indian law, against posthumous reproduction if consent has been given by the sperm donour.

She noted that, in the absence of a spouse or children, Preet Inder’s parents were entitled to the sperm under the Hindu Succession Act, as they became his legal heirs.

The couple’s desire to use the sperm was driven by their wish to continue their son’s legacy.

According to reports monitored by The Eagle, the judge added that “as Preet was unmarried and had no children, his parents became his legal heirs under the Hindu Succession Act and were entitled to access the sperm sample”.