Point of Law: Deletion of name of father from passport – Name of single mother - Fundamental rights of privacy, liberty, and dignity

JUDGMENT :

This is a sad story of a mother and her son. The 2nd petitioner is an unfortunate mother who conceived the 1st petitioner while she was a minor under a mysterious circumstance by an unidentified person. This writ petition is filed by the petitioners to expunge and remove the father's name from the birth register maintained by the office of the 1st respondent with respect to the 1st petitioner and issue a certificate showing the mother's name only as a single parent. A child of an unwed mother is also a citizen of our country, and nobody can infringe any of his/her fundamental rights, which are guaranteed in our Constitution. He/she is a son/daughter of not only the unwed mother but this great country "India." We need to live in a country where there will be no example to cite for the word "bastard" and let that word continue in the dictionary pages without getting an opportunity to give examples to the young student generation of English. The children of unwed mothers and the children of raped victim can also live in this country with the fundamental rights of privacy, liberty, and dignity. None can intrude into their personal life, and if it happens, the constitutional Court of this country will protect their fundamental rights. The Apex Court has held that a woman's reproductive choice is a fundamental right and compassed the same under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. In Suchita Srivastava and Another v. Chandigarh Administration [AIR 2010 SC 235], the Apex Court held thus :

“There is no doubt that a woman's right to make reproductive choices is also a dimension of "personal liberty" as understood under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It is important to recognize that reproductive choices can be exercised to procreate as well as to abstain from procreating. The crucial consideration is that a woman's right to privacy, dignity, and bodily integrity should be respected.”

2. Referring to the above judgment, the Apex Court in Devika Biswas v. Union of India and Others [AIR 2016 SC 4405] observed thus :

“This Court recognized reproductive rights as an aspect of personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution in Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration. The freedom to exercise these reproductive rights would include the right to make a choice regarding sterilization on the basis of informed consent and free from any form of coercion”.

3. The Apex Court in K.S. Puttuswamy v. Union of India [2017 (4) KLT 1], observed like this :

“To live is to live with dignity. The draftsmen of the Constitution defined their vision of the society in which constitutional values would be attained by emphasising, among other freedoms, liberty and dignity. So fundamental is dignity that it permeates the core of the rights guaranteed to the individual by Part III. Dignity is the core which unites the fundamental rights because the fundamental rights seek to achieve for each individual the dignity of existence. Privacy with its attendant values assures dignity to the individual and it is only when life can been enjoyed with dignity can liberty be of true substance. Privacy ensures the fulfilment of dignity and is a core value which the protection of life and liberty is intended to achieve.”

4. In the light of the above decisions, the facts of the present case are to be considered. To keep the anonymity of the son and the mother, who are the petitioners in this writ petition, the 1st petitioner son is referred to as "X" and the 2nd petitioner mother is referred to as "Y". The name of the father of the 1st petitioner is given differently in three different documents, and therefore, the father's name is referred as "Z", "Z1" and "Z2".

5. The 1st petitioner was conceived by the 2nd petitioner, the mother of the 1st petitioner, while she was a minor under mysterious circumstance by an unidentified person. Therefore the father's name of the 1st petitioner happened to be recorded differently in different documents. The name of