Conceived in Japan - Abandoned in Jaipur


SOURCE : TOI

JAIPUR - AUG 06:: She's only 11 days old, and already her fate is tied in legal knots and international complications. Her biological parents are Japanese. When her mother, Yuki Yamada, could not conceive, she chose a surrogate mother in Ahmedabad to carry her child.

The child was born on July 25 in Anand, Gujarat. But a month before that, Yuki divorced her husband, Dr Ikufumi Yamada, and disowned the child. And that, it seems, is the root of all trouble for the infant who still does not have a name.

Her father is keen to take the girl back home to Tokyo, but a law enacted 120 years ago is in the way. First, as Dr Ikufumi is only the biological father of the child, the girl's legitimacy will have to be proved. Secondly, according to the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, a single father cannot adopt a girl child.

With so much loaded against her, the girl is now spending time at a hospital in Jaipur. She was shifted out of Ahmedabad after the blasts. A friend of Ikufumi, Kamal Vijayvargiya — a jeweller from Jaipur settled in Tokyo—was instrumental in getting the girl shifted to Arya Hospital in Jaipur. He also got Ikufumi's mother to come down and take care of the child. She's here on a three-month tourist visa.

"She (the grandmother) is very disturbed as the child cannot be taken out of the country because of adoption laws. The child's mother, Yuki, who divorced her husband and disowned the child, turned down her ex-husband's request to visit India to complete the adoption process. The grandmother becomes very emotional when she is told that the child cannot be taken out of India. The lawmakers will have to find some solution to this," said Dr Sanjay Arya, who is looking after the girl.

Ikufumi (45)—an orthopaedic surgeon attached to a Tokyo hospital—and his former wife Yuki (41) signed an agreement of surrogacy with Dr Nayanaben Patel of Akansha IVF Centre, an Ahmedabad hospital, on November 22 last year. Pritiben Mehta, wife of Brijeshbhai Mehta, also from Ahmedabad, signed an agreement to serve as the surrogate mother. The fertilization process of Yuki's eggs with Ikufumi's sperm was completed in Tokyo and the embryo was brought to Ahmedabad.

The embryo transfer was done at Dr Nayanaben's hospital on November 22 in the presence of the Japanese couple. After that, they left for Tokyo. The baby was delivered on July 25.

But by then, the Japanese couple had divorced. And after the birth, surrogate mother Pritiben stuck to the terms of the contract and left the baby and went home. If the baby, whose nationality is Indian, doesn't get an Indian passport after the adoption process is completed, she may become the country's first surrogate-orphan.

  

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Comment on this article

  • Siva, usa

    Wed, Aug 06 2008

    You are perfectly right Mr. Charles! Law should not threaten the survival of a child! I say authorities should take a bold decision and allow the child to be taken out of the country. Moreover, who dug up this 120 years old law?

    DisAgree Agree Reply Report Abuse

  • Charles D'Mello, Pangala

    Wed, Aug 06 2008

    Laws are there to protect people. But the laws are broken to distrupt peace and support terrorism. Foriegn national terrorists can be given indian passport!!! Which law says this ??? When there is a genuine problem nobody seems to be interested in solving it, but they try to complicate more than required.

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