Will Indo-Japanese baby Majhi find a home?

Bangalore, Aug 7: Will Indo-Japanese baby Manjhi find her home soon? Will her grandmother who now takes care of Manjhi in the Jaipur hospital get the custody? As she peacefully sleeps in her incubator at a hospital in Jaipur, her biological father Dr Ikufumi Yamada is trying his best to take her back.

Sources said that noted lawyer Indira Jaisingh has contacted Emiko Yamada, the baby's grandmother. Emiko will now file a petition in Rajasthan HC for possession of the child as she is the girl's closest blood relation. Dr Sanjay Arya (in whose hospital the baby is being kept) will submit a separate petition requesting that the baby be allowed to stay there till all disputes regarding her parentage are solved. In another development, it was learnt that Yuki Yamada, the former wife of the baby's father, Dr Ikufumi Yamada, had not lent her eggs for the child. This was done by some anonymous donor, whose identity couldn't be disclosed. This has further complicated the issue of the baby's parentage.

"A close scrutiny of the certificate issued by Dr Nayanaben Patel, in whose clinic, at Anand in Gujarat, the surrogate mother delivered the Japanese girl, has revealed that while Ikufumi donated his sperms, the eggs were not given by Yuki. The embryo was transferred to the surrogate mother Pritiben Mehta, who delivered the baby girl on July 25," said Dr Sanjay Arya, director of the Arya Hospital.

"But there can be foolproof evidence only after the DNA tests of both Ikufumi and Yuki are conducted. This would prove beyond doubt the parentage of the child. It seems after the divorce, Yuki did not bother to come to India to see the child because her eggs were not used," Dr Arya said.

The father wants to claim the baby, but legal issues have come in the way and the infant remains in legal tussle with only her grandmother to look after her. The hospital has decided that till the baby's passport or papers are not put in order, the child will remain in the care of the hospital.

To make matters worse, with his Indian visa no longer valid, the father has left for Japan. For now, the little Manjhi remains in the care of the hospital as her Japanese grandmother keeps a watchful eye.

Ikufumi Yamada, 45, and his then-wife Yuki Yamada, 41, had signed a surrogacy agreement in November. The baby was born on July 25 in the western state of Gujarat and is now in a hospital in Jaipur, in Rajasthan. According to reports, Yuki Yamada no longer wants to adopt the baby. And Indian laws prohibit single men from adopting children. Commercial surrogacy has been legal in India since 2002 but the child born of such an agreement has to be legally adopted by its biological parents.

OneIndia News