The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the authorities to include the names of the foster parents of a 20-year-old woman of Madurai district in her birth certificate with the suffix foster, without removing the names of her biological parents.

The court was hearing the petition filed by Durgadevi who sought a direction to authorities to issue a birth certificate by including the names of her foster parents Kumaravel and Arumugam.

The petitioner was born in 2005 to Alagesan and Chitradevi. Her father died in 2006 and her mother who abandoned her is unheard of for the last 20 years. The petitioner was brought up by her paternal uncle Kumaravel and his wife Arumugam. They had raised her as their own daughter, providing proper care, protection and education.

In all her identity-related documents, such as Aadhaar Card, Community Certificate, marksheets, and transfer certificate, etc., the petitioner’s parents’ names were mentioned as Kumaravel and Arumugam, and not the biological parents’ names. However, in the birth certificate alone, the biological parents’ names were mentioned.

She made an application to include the names of Kumaravel and Arumugam as father and mother in the birth certificate. However, the application was rejected. The order of the authorities stated that the petitioner should be validly adopted as per the provisions of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, so as to include their names in the birth certificate as parents.

Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy said the position of Kumaravel and Arumugam in the case was uniquely higher than those of any other temporary foster family but below those of the adoptive parents.

In every other document, their names appear as the petitioner’s parents. In this regard, even in the absence of the formal adoption, when the petitioner seeks to communicate to the world about the family she belongs to in a particular manner, unless there is any prohibition or restriction in any other law, the right to dignity and identity, forming part of her Fundamental Right to Privacy, needs to be protected, the court said.

The petitioner is not praying for the removal of the names of the biological parents. She is not praying for the proprietary rights in the foster family. She wants to be known as their daughter, and that is how she wants to construct her identity vis-à-vis society; the same would be within her fundamental right, the court said.

The court said by specifically mentioning their names, below the biological parents, by adding the suffix foster, no law is violated, and at the same time, her right to dignity and identity is established. There is not only an obligation on the State to respect the child’s right to preserve her identity, but there is also an obligation to provide appropriate assistance.