Baby Manji can travel

Birth certificate paves way for reunion with Japanese dad

JAIPUR: A birth certificate issued on Saturday for a surrogate baby who has been in legal limbo since she was born in India may pave the way for a reunion with her biological Japanese father.

The certificate names Ikufumi Yamada, 45, as the father of Manji Yamada, born after eggs from an unknown donor were fertilised with the Japanese’s sperm and implanted in the womb of a surrogate Indian mother.

“The birth certificate has been given in the father’s name. The mother’s name is blank,” said Sanjay Arya, a doctor at the Jaipur hospital where the baby is being cared for.
“On that basis, the Indian government can give her a travel document. Now it depends on whether the Japanese embassy gives her a travel document.”

The baby girl’s fate became unclear when Yamada, 45, and his wife divorced after the process. She no longer wanted the baby and Yamada had no proof tying him to the child. Nor could he adopt the baby — Indian law does not allow the adoption of a girl by a single father, lawyers seeking to sort out the legal tangle said.

The birth certificate is expected to smooth the hurdles and Yamada, who has been in Japan while the baby’s grandmother stayed back in India, plans to travel to India this week, the doctor said.

“I told him we got the birth certificate. He was so happy that he was speechless,” Ikufumi’s friend, Kamal Vijayvargiya, told a news channel.