File photo of Kerala High Court

A woman who works for a government-run firm in Kerala has gone to court after she was refused maternity leave to look after her baby because she is not the child's biological mother.P Geetha works as Deputy General Manager with the Kerala Livestock Development Board. Her first child died in a road accident years ago. She told the Kerala High Court that after 20 years of trying to have another baby through IVF, she finally decided on surrogacy.

She said the surrogate mother was organized through a Hyderabad institute, and her second son was born in June this year.She told the court that she needs to be home to care for her newborn.