NEW DELHI: The Kerala high court has ordered authorities to add a father's name to his daughter's birth certificate, which had been left blank for over a decade due to a misunderstanding between her parents at the time of her birth, further holding that a blank space in a birth register cannot be allowed to become a permanent wound on a child's identity.
Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan allowed the writ petition filed by Anju Krishna and Navaneeth P, directing the District Registrar and Pallickal Grama Panchayat to change the child's name and add the father's name in the birth certificate within 30 days.
What was the dispute about?The couple, who were working in Dubai, fell in love but could not marry at the time due to opposition from the man's family. The woman decided to have a child through In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). The IVF treatment was kept secret from the parents of both the partners.
The child, a girl, was born on November 14, 2012. But due to a misunderstanding between the couple at the time, the father's name was left blank in the birth certificate.
The couple subsequently resolved their differences and married on February 7, 2018. A second child was born to them on January 14, 2020, and in that child's birth certificate, the father's name is correctly recorded. However, the first child's birth certificate continued to remain same as it was.
The mother took this matter before the family court in Kottayam, Kerala, seeking a declaration of paternity. The matter was resolved through mediation, and the family court passed a judgment in which the father admitted he is the biological father of the first child, and both parents agreed to have his name added to her birth certificate and all official documents. The child's name was also changed in the school register and Aadhaar card accordingly.
The dispute arose when the parents approached the Panchayat with the family court judgment seeking correction in the birth certificate, the Panchayat refused, citing the absence of any provision in the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 to add a father's name after birth was registered as a single parent.
What did the Kerala high court said?Drawing reference on the character of Karna from the Mahabharata, the court noted that in this case, unlike Karna, both parents want to declare paternity to the world, but the law stands in the way. The court also invoked Mr. Bumble from Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, who famously declared in a courtroom that "law is an ass," observing that even now, some legal provisions in India are similarly rigid.
"A blank space in the birth register can wound deeper than words to the first child, especially when the second child's father's name is correctly shown," Justice Kunhikrishnan observed.
"But in such situations, it is the duty of the constitutional court to interpret such laws with a human touch," the court said.
The court acknowledged that there is no provision in the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 to add a father's name after birth is registered as a single parent. But it further held that this court does not "sit to count commas, full-stops, or blanks in the Rules and statutes" when a genuine grievance is raised.
"This court sits to ensure that the law does not become the last instrument of psychological cruelty to a child who was never at fault. The law is meant to record life, not to resist it," Justice Kunhikrishnan stated.
Invoking its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the court observed that "the issue is not one of paternity, it is of posterity."
The court directed the authorities to change the child's name and add the father's name by making a marginal entry in the birth register without altering the original entry. A fresh birth certificate is to be issued within 30 days of receipt of the judgment.
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