New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has allowed retrieval and preservation of sperms of a man who committed suicide recently on a plea moved by family members of the deceased person.
Family members – parents and sister of the deceased who died by suicide in the national capital on January 22 – sought a direction that the semen of the deceased be preserved through the method of Postmortem Sperm Retrieval (PMSR), a process that allows retrieval of viable sperm from a deceased individual for potential future use in Assisted Reproductive Therapy (ART).
What did the counsel for deceased’s kin argue?
The counsel for the petitioners relied on a High Court verdict on posthumous reproduction and submitted that as per the verdict, the semen sample constitutes property under Indian law and the term “property” under Indian jurisprudence includes both tangible and intangible assets encompassing the estate of the deceased.
Retrieved sperm shall be preserved by the hospital where the procedure is performed: High Court
Justice Sachin Datta, who passed the interim order on the plea of the kins of the deceased, directed that the retrieved sperm shall be preserved by the hospital where the procedure is performed, in accordance with the standard procedures and the same shall be subject to further orders in the writ petition.
“The retrieved sperm shall be preserved by the Hospital where the procedure is performed, in accordance with the standard procedures. The same shall be subject to further orders in the writ petition,” the High Court said.
High Court issued notice to Centre, Delhi government
The court issued notice to the Centre and the Delhi government on the plea.
The court made it clear that the directions have been passed at the request of counsel for the petitioners in view of the urgency of the matter as the retrieval of sperms would be efficacious only if it was performed expeditiously.
“Given the circumstances set out in the petition and the above submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioners, and considering that the PMSR procedure would be efficacious only if it is performed expeditiously, this court accedes to the request of the petitioner for performing the procedure on the body of the deceased,” the High Court said.
High Court directed respondent hospital to arrange for PMSR procedure to be performed through any other hospital
The High Court further directed the respondent hospital, which submitted that it does not have the wherewithal to perform the procedure, to endeavour to arrange for the PMSR procedure to be performed through any other hospital which is equipped to do so, at the risk and cost of the petitioners.
The matter would be further heard on July 8.
