Click to play videoJaipur: A nine-day-old baby finds herself parentless and caught in a legal bind in Jaipur. Born by surrogate pregnancy to an Indian mother, Manjhee's Japanese parents got separated a month before she was born and now the law does not permit her single father to adopt her.
Manjhee was born in Ahmedabad is currently recuperating in a hospital in Jaipur. Her surrogate mother, too, does not want her.
Despite her father, Yamada - a doctor in Japan – wanting to claim her custody, the Indian law states she has to be legally adopted by her biological parents. However, Yamada’s separated status is preventing him from doing that.
"I want to take my baby home in Japan but I can't. I'm very worried about the child. I want to bring the baby to Japan because she's very small and has also become sick. So I'm very worried about her," he says.
A string of legal hurdles is preventing him. ”If the child gets a passport from the Japanese government and an No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Indian government she can be sent to Japan," says Yamada's friend Kamal.
However, the embassy officials have told Yamada they cannot issue a passport for her without the NOC from the Indian government. He has now gone back to Japan to consult his lawyers.
Manjhee is now staying with her 70-year-old Japanese grandmother. But the ordeal has taken its toll on and she is refusing to feed and has suffered dehydration. Though under medical care, doctors are worried for the infant.
"The baby's grandmother who is looking after the baby is too old and incapable of looking after her," says Dr Ranan Harjit Singh.
Her grandmother's travel visa expires soon and she hopes to take Manjhee back to Japan soon.
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