HC relief to woman seeking correction in child's birth record

In a relief to a single mother struggling to get an error in her child's birth record rectified, the Madras High Court has ordered the deletion of the existing name in the father's name column of the certificate.

Allowing the petition filed by Mathumitha Ramesh, Justice M S Ramesh directed the Tiruchirapalli Corporation to remove within a week the name of Manish Madanpal Meena entered in the birth certificate.

The judge then posted the matter to June 11 to report compliance.

The petitioner's problems began after she gave birth to a child through intrauterine fertility treatment with the help of a sperm donor. After the birth, the corporation issued a birth certificate which showed the father's name as Manish Madanpal Meena, her friend.

Since Meena was not the child's father, the petitioner approached the authorities concerned, seeking removal of the name.

However, her request was turned down by officials, who claimed that errors pertaining to the name of the father alone can be rectified, but the removal of the name from the birth certificate was not contemplated under the relevant law.

The woman then moved the Madurai bench of the court, which gave her liberty to approach the Revenue Divisional Officer concerned with a representation.

Her representation was rejected claiming that only the registrar was the competent authority for such rectification.

Hence, the petitioner filed the plea in the court.