Kolkata: The Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench of Calcutta High Court has allowed the surrogacy option for a Darjeeling couple in their 50s, taking into account the pain undergone by the couple to become parents and successful cryopreservation of embryos, which may result in successful pregnancy.What started as a quest to become biological parents in March 2019 for the Darjeeling couple took a turn after two miscarriages suffered by the woman due to poor ovarian reserve. They were advised to continue with the second phase of ART treatment through gestational surrogacy procedure, where an embryo is created in the lab and then transferred to the surrogate’s uterus, with the help of a donor egg. When the couple mentally prepared themselves to start a new journey to becoming parents via surrogacy, Covid hit the plans, leading to further delay.The couple, represented by advocate Achin Jana, prayed for a chance, despite all delay, from the HC to become parents.Subsequently, the age of woman, which was 49 at time of applying for certificate of medical indication, granted by the District Medical Board Darjeeling, increased to above 50 in 2026 when the eligibility certificate was denied on ground of being overaged. The husband’s age was 56 years.One of the criteria for issuing an eligibility certificate is that the intending couple must be married, and between the age of 23 to 50 years in case of female and between 26 to 55 years in case of male on the day of certification.As per centre’s data, the average age of menopause for females in India is 46.2 years. In this case, the application for certificate of medical indication for surrogacy was made when the wife’s age was 49, within the prescribed age limit, but subsequently while seeking eligibility certificate the wife crossed the age limit.Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury in his order noted the slight overage. But the judge took into consideration the fact that after receiving the initial permission from the authorities, the ovum was picked up and the embryos were successfully cryopreserved in Dec 2025. All that was left was to be transferred to a surrogate’s uterus.“In the peculiar facts when the initiation application was within the time prescribed and though the husband was marginally overaged, I am of the view, the couple should not be made to suffer and should be given an opportunity to become parents especially when the embryo has been successfully cryopreserved and that there is a fair chance that it shall result in successful pregnancy,” Justice Basu Chowdhury held, giving the aged couple a chance to be parents.
