Father does not have fundamental right to collect
deceased Son’s preserved sperm from Hospital
An interesting case had come up before the High Court of
Calcutta by way of constitutional writ in the name of Ashok Kumar Chatterjee
V/S The Union of India. The facts as briefed in the petition reveal that
petitioner’s married son died of Thalassaemia. During his lifetime, the
petitioner’s son had had his sperm stored with the St. Stephen Hospital, Tis
Hazari, New Delhi. After the demise of the son, Alok Kumar approached the said
hospital for releasing such sperm in his favour because he is the father of
deceased sperm donor and he is the right person to get the same from the
hospital after his death.
On receiving such request ,Hospital disclosed to the father of petitioner
Alok Kumar Chatterjee on January 19, 2019 that,one of the purposes for storing
sperm was to provide pregnancy to the donor’ wife.Under the circumstances sperm
of deceased cannot be given to anyone else without the permission from his
widowed wife .
Alok kumar then wrote to his daughter in law for
permission upon which she did not respond at all .Due to the parental
relationship of the Alok kumar and the deceased ,he asserted before the court
that he has a right to collect such
sperm, irrespective of the permission of the wife of the deceased. He further
requested the court for direction to his daughter in law to give ‘no-objection’.
Or to respond to the request of the petitioner
Court Observed -
·
The
petitioner does not have any ‘fundamental right’ to such permission, merely because
o of his father-son relationship with the deceased.
·
The sperm preserved at the St. Stephen Hospital
belonged to the deceased and, since the deceased was in matrimonial
relationship with his wife at the juncture of his demise, the only other
person, apart from the deceased, having any right to it is his wife.
·
The father-son
relationship of the petitioner and the deceased does not entail any such right
of the petitioner to the progeny of his son. As such, the right espoused by the
petitioner for himself is illusory
·
As far as the
prayer for a direction upon the widowed wife of his son to respond to the petitioner’s communication,
it is beyond the scope of the writ
court, since the matter does not involve any violation of fundamental or
statutory right, nor does the wife of deceased son come within the
Definition of
‘State’ as envisaged under Article 12 of the Constitution of India.
Court found the writ petition not maintainable
Accordingly, W.P.A. No. 4553 of 2020 was dismissed.
Ref . High Court of Calcutta
Asoka Kumar Chatterje Vs.The Union of India & Ors
W.P.A. No. 4553 of 2020
Decided on 19.01.2021
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