Director Vignesh Shivan took to his social media pages on Sunday to announce that he and actress wife Nayanthara have welcomed twin baby boys, four months after their wedding ceremony. Since the couple was suggested to be looking at surrogacy* as an option even before their wedding, it was presumed that the babies were born via the same.
* - Surrogacy is an arrangement where a female bears and delivers a child for another couple or person and has the embryo, which is fertilized by in vitro fertilization (IVF) implanted into her uterus. She - the surrogate mother then carries the baby till delivery.
However since the couple did not explicitly make any mentions of a surrogate mother being involved, Tamil Nadu health minister Subramanian. Ma has said that an explanation will be called from the new parents on the same.
Surrogacy is legal in India but the Surrogacy Act passed in December, 2021 states that the intending couple must be legally married when applying for a surrogate mother. The woman providing this service needs to be between the age of 35-45 years and should have no prior records of being a surrogate mother [Indian women can become a surrogate mother only once in their entire lifetime].
The couple intending to hire a surrogate must also hold a certificate of 'medical need' provided by either the National or the state level Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Board. Subramanian's call for an explanation stems from this and also other rules pertaining to The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021.
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[October 27, 2022: Update]
In an official statement issued by the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS) dated October 26, 2022, it has been revealed that a high-level inquiry committee was formed on October 13 after Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan announced the birth of twins 4 months after their wedding. The panel found that the couple had registered their marriage in 2016, became parents through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and surrogacy at a private hospital in Chennai.
DMS then issued a notice to the said hospital for failing to maintain proper details of the treatment provided to the couple, and records on the health condition of the surrogate mother. DMS also said that though the intending couple and surrogate mother were as prescribed in the National guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research, they could not conduct an inquiry with the abroad-living family physician, on whose recommendation that the couple were treated at the private ART centre.