Calcutta High Court refused to entertain a plea filed by the father of a deceased man seeking the right to collect his son’s frozen sperm. The court maintained that the only other person, apart from the deceased, having any right to it is his wife.
Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya noted that the petitioner doesn’t have any fundamental right to permission for collecting the preserved sperm of his son merely by dint of his father-son relationship with the deceased.
The counsel appearing for the deceased’s father submitted before the court that the widow of his son, in that case, ought to give her no objection or, at least, respond to his request.
The court stated that the sperm preserved in Delhi’s hospital belonged to the deceased and since he was in a matrimonial relationship till death, the only other person, apart from the deceased, having any right to it was 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,” the court said.
Justice Bhattacharyya further stated that as far as the prayer for a direction upon the wife to respond to the petitioner’s communication is concerned, the matter is beyond the scope of the writ court, as it doesn’t involve any violation of fundamental or statutory right.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that his son was a patient of thalassemia and had preserved his sperm for use in the future. As per the petitioner, he had approached the hospital seeking access to the frozen sperm of his deceased son.
The hospital staff refused and asked for the no-objection certificate from the deceased donor’s wife and also proof of marriage has to be provided.
The petitioner also claimed that he had urged the widow to issue a no-objection to collect the sperm from the hospital. However, the deceased’s wife refused to acknowledge the receipt of the communication.
