COIMBATORE: The legally complex and controversial case of extortion and breach of trust registered against a surrogate mother in Coimbatore earlier this week momentarily came to an abrupt end on Friday with the police closing the file as a case of “mistake of facts”.However, the heat generated by the issue is bound to remain alive as the warring parties - the surrogate mother Meena (name changed on ethical grounds) and authorities of the Iswarya Women’s Hospital and Fertility Centre are yet to reach an amicable settlement. Consequently, the week-old unnamed baby boy born to the Dindigul-based surrogate mother and its anonymous biological father (a doctor residing in Coimbatore) will continue to have an uncertain future.“We decided to close the case as we do not have adequate laws governing surrogacy and due to lack of evidence. We have asked the parties concerned to approach the court of law for a solution,” Coimbatore Police Commissioner Amaresh Pujari told the Express. It is learnt that the hospital was unable to produce copies of the surrogacy agreement and other relevant records mandated by law to support its charge. The hospital also did not furnish information about identity of the biological father of the new born.Earlier on Thursday, Meena’s husband Ramkumar (name changed), suspected to be a person living with HIV, had created a stir by releasing to the media recorded telephonic conversations purportedly containing voices of some police officers who were allegedly trying to work out a settlement outside the purview of law. Ramkumar had claimed that the police officers had intimidated him and forced a house owner in Sulur not to rent out his house to the couple. However, the Commissioner strongly denied the allegations.As per law, during investigation if the police do not find sufficient material to pursue a case to its logical end, they can close it as a “mistake of facts.”Thus the complaints submitted by the Iswarya Women’s Hospital and Fertility Centre Hospital alleging that Meena was extorting a higher sum than what she had agreed to for becoming a surrogate mother and a counter complaint given by Meena and her husband alleging intimidation from the hospital, both stand closed in the police records.Surrogate mom eanted to sbort the babyControversial surrogate mother Meena (name changed on
ethical grounds) earlier this week wanted to abort the baby when she was
into her three months pregnancy. “When she was three months’ pregnant,
the hospital did not administer her proper treatment claiming that the
sponsor (biological father) had not paid the money for the same. When I
questioned this, we were sent out by the hospital. Later, Meena went to
the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital seeking to abort the fetus. However,
gynecologists advised against the procedure saying she was in an
advanced stage of pregnancy and that any attempt to abort the baby would
put her life at risk,” Meena’s husband Ramkumar (name changed), told
the Express on Friday.Later, Ramkumar took his wife to his native
village in Dindigul and got her admitted to a private hospital where she
delivered a baby boy last Sunday. “We don’t have the means to raise the
baby. We are willing to hand over custody of the child to its
biological father. The hospital authorities never allowed us to meet the
biological parents,’’ he claimed.
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