Judgement | Photo Credit: Indiatimes, Representative Image

In a commendable move, the Madras High Court has come to the aid of a single struggling mother who was struggling to get an error rectified in her child's birth record. Following the plea, the HC ordered the deletion of the existing name in the father's name column of the certificate, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reports.

The petition was filed by a certain Mathumitha Ramesh. The presiding judge on the matter, Justice M S Ramesh directed that the Tiruchirapalli Corporation remove the name of Manish Madanpal Meena within a week from the birth certificate. To report compliance, the judge then posted the matter to June 11.

The petitioner gave birth to a child through intrauterine fertility treatment with the help of a sperm donor. Her problems began post the birth when the birth certificate issued by the corporation showed Manish Madanpal Meena (her friend) as the father.

Ramesh approached the authorities and asked them to remove the error as Meena was not the child's father. However, the officials turned down her request stating that errors pertaining to the name of the father alone can be rectified, but the removal of the name from the birth certificate was not contemplated under the relevant law.

The woman then moved the Madurai bench of the court, which gave her liberty to approach the revenue divisional officer concerned with a representation. Her representation was rejected claiming that only the registrar was the competent authority for such rectification.

(With inputs from PTI)