4 min readJun 29, 2026 06:20 AM IST
First published on: Jun 29, 2026 at 06:20 AM IST
Recent news of a case in Gurugram has raised concerns about accountability within India’s assisted reproductive technology (ART) sector. A couple who underwent In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) in 2025 gave birth to twin daughters in January 2026. They noticed significant physical differences between themselves and the children and arranged independent DNA testing. The tests allegedly showed that neither parent was biologically related to either of the children. An FIR has since been registered against the hospital. The case raises fundamental questions about trust, oversight, and accountability in reproductive services. Alongside the couple’s distress, the children’s rights and welfare are at risk.
This is part of a series of disputes that have exposed weaknesses in the regulation of ARTs in India. In 2023, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission imposed a substantial penalty on a Delhi hospital after DNA testing established that a husband was not the biological father of twins born following an Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) procedure, where his sperm was claimed to be used. The facts of the Gurugram case are yet to be fully determined, but both cases highlight the need for robust systems of traceability and accountability.
Couples undergoing IVF entrust fertility clinics with some of the most intimate aspects of human life. When questions arise about the identity, handling, or use of gametes and embryos, the consequences go beyond ordinary clinical error. They indicate institutional failure, directly impacting trust and informed consent.
The ART (Regulation) Act 2021 sought to address the need to regulate a rapidly expanding sector operating with limited oversight. Sections 21 and 23 of the ART Act impose statutory obligations on clinics and ART banks for record-keeping, identification procedures, storage protocols, documentation, and compliance monitoring. Institutions must maintain records for extended periods and make them available for inspection by regulatory authorities. However, laws are only as effective as the institutions that implement them. The implications of malpractice in this area go beyond negligence. It fundamentally violates the principle of informed consent.
The practical reality in grievance redressal often involves prolonged delays and fragmented oversight. For affected families, this compounds emotional distress and jeopardises the preservation of necessary evidence. The decisions about whether to use donor gametes, pursue genetic parenthood, or have a child are deeply personal. When these decisions are altered by error or misconduct, the consequences extend beyond the clinical setting.
The welfare of children born through such procedures must remain paramount. The ART Act (Section 31) seeks to provide certainty by stipulating that children born through donor-assisted reproduction are the legal children of the commissioning couple and that donors relinquish parental rights. This framework works well when donor gametes are used knowingly and with informed consent. However, the allegations in the Gurugram case expose a regulatory gap. The law was designed to govern consensual donor arrangements, not situations involving alleged clinical error or mistaken embryo transfer. If substantiated, the allegations raise a troubling possibility: Parents raising children to whom they are genetically unrelated, while their biological children may be elsewhere.
The ART Act [Section 33(1)(a)] regards any medical practitioner or any person “caus(ing) to abandon, disown” children born through ARTs as an offence. Yet, it is silent on what happens to the children who face such a dire possibility. Children should never bear the consequences of institutional failures. Any legal response must ensure parentage, continuity of care, emotional security, inheritance rights, and protection for them.
Nadimpally is a public-health researcher who works on ethics, reproductive and biotechnologies, and surrogacy. Banerjee is assistant professor, Department of Political Science, University of Hyderabad