Case Title:- Arun Muthuvel vs. Union of India and connected cases
Citation:- 2025 INSC 1209
Date:- 09.10.2025
Hon’ble Supreme Court Bench :- JUSTICE B.V. NAGARATHNA & JUSTICE K.V. VISWANATHAN.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court held that couples who had begun the surrogacy process before the enactment of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 law can proceed with surrogacy despite being over the statutory age limit under section 4(iii)(c)(I). The law mandates that the woman must be between 23 and 50 years of age and the man between 26 and 55 years.
- The Hon’ble Court clarified that surrogacy is considered to have commenced once the couple’s gametes are extracted and embryos are frozen. At this stage, the couple has completed all major steps, and the next stage implantation is handled by the surrogate mother.
- The Hon’ble Court said that couples who had their embryos frozen before the Act have a crystallised right to parenthood under the earlier law, as part of their reproductive autonomy.
- The Hon’ble Court rejected the government’s argument that older parents might not be suitable to raise children. It said the state has no authority to judge who can or cannot be parents, especially when there is no age restriction on natural conception or adoption. The judgment applies only to couples who began the surrogacy process before the Act came into force on January 25, 2022. The Court clarified that it is not questioning the wisdom of Parliament in prescribing age limits for future cases.
- The Hon’ble Court stated that any other couple in a similar situation can approach the jurisdictional High Court to seek relief based on this ruling.
Justice Nagarathna emphasized that the aim of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 was to stop commercial surrogacy, not to prevent genuine couples from having children through surrogacy.
Justice K.V. Viswanathan provided another concurrent judgment providing detailed reasons why Surrogacy (Regulation) Act should not have Retrospective Operation.
