Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 4 (IANS) As the citizenship of German twins born to an Indian surrogate mother hangs in the balance, German Ambassador Thomas Mataussek Monday said his country would consider giving visas to them if the Indian government approached it.
“If the Indian government approaches us, we will certainly take note of it. We will not reject it outright,” the German envoy told CNN-IBN when asked whether Germany will reconsider giving visas to the twins if the Indian government gave them one-time passport.

“We have to be very careful. We don’t want to set a precedent,” he said.

“We don’t want to encourage people to go down this path. This is not the way to put children into the world,” the envoy said.

The German embassy has so far refused visas to the two children born to a German couple through an Indian surrogate mother as Germany does not recognise surrogacy as a means of parenthood.

It is now up to India’s Supreme Court to decide whether the twins Leonad and Nicolas, born to a surrogate mother in Gujarat’s Anand city, are Germans or Indians.

The government Monday sought more time from the apex court to make up its mind on the issue.

If no decision is taken on the legal status of the twins, the legal community has voiced apprehensions that the two children may end up being stateless citizens.

Last month, a Supreme Court bench of Justices G. S. Singhvi and A. K. Ganguly expressed their dilemma.

“Should we treat children born out of surrogacy as commodities?” they asked the German couple Jan Balaz and Susan Lohle after they could not tell the court clearly whether the twins could get German citizenship if India did not grant it to them.