A mother from Chennai finally got her daughter's name in the birth certificate with the mention of father's name. Tavishi Perara was born to Mathumitha Ramesh after her split from husband Charan Raj by mutual consent. With the help of a semen donor in April 2017, she underwent intrauterine fertility treatment and bore a child. But the Trichy Corporation commissioner would not give the newborn a birth certificate without a father's name.

A certificate that was issued mentioned Manish Madanpal Meena as the child's 'father'. However, Meena was not the biological father and only helped Mathumitha during her treatment. When Mathumitha narrated her story and sought removal of Meena's name, she was told that the name could not be changed and can only be rectified. She had to then file litigations twice urging the removal of father's name from her daughter's birth certificate. The mother then approached the High Court, which directed revenue officials to rectify the certificate.

However, her application to the revenue divisional officer was rejected as registrar of births and deaths was the competent authority to solve the matter. Mathumitha's counsel argued in the court that Meena's name had "erroneously crept" into the child's birth certificate. Both Meena and Mathumitha's ex-husband Charan Raj filed separate affidavits stating that neither of them was the child's father.

After being convinced that that Mathumitha had become pregnant through intrauterine fertility treatment, Justice M S Ramesh granted Mathumitha her demand. The Times of India quoted, Justice M S Ramesh as saying, "I have made these observations consciously in order to restrain the chief health officer from insisting on any other name in the birth certificate on the father’s name column."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 20, 2018 01:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).