It's a surrogacy scandal that has shocked the world.
An Israeli paedophile, who has served a year-and-a-half in jail for sexually abusing children, managed to adopt a four-year-old girl through an arrangement with a surrogate mother in India. Though it paints an embarrassing picture of the regulation of surrogacy in India, the government is unaware about the development and refused to act till Friday.
Women and child development minister Krishna Tirath feigned ignorance when dna called her. “I have not seen the story and so I don’t want to comment. You should get in touch with my information officer,” she said. There was no official response from the home ministry either, but officials said the government will not be able to intervene as the child, in all probability, is an Israeli citizen. The onus, therefore, is on Israel to take action against the man.
The case came to light after NGO Israel National Council for the Child (NCC) received a tip-off. Further investigation revealed that the Israeli national is a convicted paedophile.
“We brought this to the notice of various officials, including those from the ministry of social welfare, ministry of justice and other government bodies, who deal with the welfare of children in Israel,” NCC executive director Yitzhak Kadman told dna over the phone. The NGO is investigating how the Israeli man was able to adopt the child through surrogacy in India, Kadman added.
What has raised hackles even more is that the Israel government has not been able to take custody of the girl from the paedophile as the country’s laws do not empower it to do so. The scandal was first reported by The Jewish Chronicle on Thursday.
Home ministry officials here conceded that the case could have been prevented had the Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill become an Act as it has legal checks and balances to ensure that the child goes to deserving parents. The law ministry is yet to give its nod for the bill.
According to Rekha Agarwal, a Supreme Court lawyer dealing with adoption cases, surrogacy in India happens through a contract of personal service recognised under the Indian Contract Act and cannot be enforced. Since there is no regulation for surrogacy in India, there is no agency to check the background of foreigners keen on renting a womb here.
“The Foreigner Regional Registration Office checks if the foreigner parent/s adopting the child is/are serious about parenting, they have a valid visa describing the reason of their visit, their country accepts surrogacy and grants the surrogate child its nationality and whether they have valid travel documents for the surrogate child. However, in the absence of a prosecuting law, no action can be taken aganst people who manage to hoodwink authorities,” said a home ministry official.
Israeli shocker
Israeli man who was jailed for a year-and-a-half adopts four-year-old girl through surrogate mother in India.
Women and child development minister unaware about the case. No response from the home ministry.
Israel government cannot take custody of the girl as country’s laws do not allow it to.
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