Person Has Right To Specify Only Mother's Name In Identity Documents; None Should Suffer Insult Faced By 'Karna' Now : Kerala High Court

"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".

In this case, the second petitioner had conceived her son, the first petitioner, when she was a minor under a mysterious circumstance by an unidentified person. Therefore the father's name of the 1st petitioner happened to be recorded differently in different documents.

The Court cited to the Apex Court decision Suchita Srivastava and Another v. Chandigarh Administration, in which it was held that a woman's reproductive choice is a fundamental right and compassed the same under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Furthermore, after referring to a number of Apex Court decisions from ABC v. State (NCT of Delhi) to Mathumitha Ramesh v. Chief Health Officer Tiruchirapalli and Others which dealt with the similar matter, and also the letter issued by the Government directing the name of only the single parent be written on the certificate, held that it is a right of a person to include his mother's name alone in the birth certificate, identity certificates and other documents.

"....it is clear that it is the right of a person to include his mother's name alone in the birth certificate, identity certificates and other documents. As I observed earlier, there are children of rape victims and children of unwed mothers in this country. Their right of privacy, dignity and liberty cannot be curtailed by any authority. The mental agony of such person is to be imagined by every citizen of this country while intruding into their privacy. In some cases it will be a deliberate act and in other cases it may be by mistake. But the State should protect citizens of all such kind as equal to other citizens without disclosing their identity and privacy. Otherwise, they will face unimaginable mental agonies".

Justice Kunhikrishnan quoting the Kathakali "Padham" sung by the legends like Late Kalamandalam Hyderali and Kalamandalam Gopi aboutt the plight of Karna, stated:

"We want a society with no such characters like "Karna," who curses his life because of the insult he faced for not knowing the whereabouts of his parents. Our Constitution and the constitutional Courts will protect all of them and the new age "Karnas" can live like any other citizen with dignity and pride".

Thereby the Court directed to respondent to issue to expunge and remove the name of the father from the Birth Register maintained at his office regarding the 1st petitioner and issue certificate showing the name of mother only as a single parent. 

Case Title: XXX v. Registrar of Births and Dead Pathanamthitta Municipality and ors.