Shortly after celebrity couple Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan announced on Sunday that they were blessed with twin baby boys, social media woke up to the issue of surrogacy, one which has legal and ethical dimensions.
Legal experts on social media noted that surrogacy has been made illegal in India since January 25 this year. However, it is likely the couple started theIR surrogacy procedure prior to the ban.
Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Monday during a press conference said that the Directorate of Medical Services will be instructed to check whether there is any violation of the rules surrounding surrogacy.
The minister was responding to a reporter who raised the question about a possible breach of regulations during the event.
The couple is yet to make a statement on the issue.
Vignesh Shivan had dropped the news of his newborn sons along with pictures on his Twitter on Sunday and wrote, "Nayan & Me have become Amma & Appa. We are blessed with twin baby Boys. All Our prayers, our ancestors’ blessings combined wit all the good manifestations made, have come 2gethr in the form Of 2 blessed babies for us. Need all ur blessings for our Uyir & Ulagam."
The couple were married in June.
There are speculations that they might have parented the kids via surrogacy.
The central government passed the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Act and the Surrogacy Act in December 2021. Surrogacy for commercial purposes including for sale, prostitution or any other forms of exploitation was banned.
The law mandates that the surrogate should be married at least once, should be between 25 and 35 years of age, and should have her own child. She should also be a close relative.
Altruistic surrogacy alone is allowed now for couples who suffer from proven infertility or disease.
The surrogate or the carrying mother should receive no monetary assistance except for medical expenses.
According to the new laws, the couple seeking a child through surrogacy must have been married for five years. The wife should be aged between 25 and 50 years and the husband between 26 and 55 years. They must have no biological or adopted children of their own.
Celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Aamir Khan, Shilpa Shetty, and Karan Johar became parents via surrogacy.