The High Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's order rejecting the petition filed by an activist in connection with the alleged sex determination test undertaken for Shah Rukh Khan's third child prior to his birth.
SRK and his wife Gauri became parents to their son AbRam born through surrogacy last year. The celebrity couple was caught in controversy over pre-birth sex determination of their son.
Last year, a newspaper article claimed that the couple had opted to determine the sex of AbRam prior to his birth, which is illegal in India. Khan had termed the report as false, however, activist Varsha Deshpande filed a complaint before a magistrate's court seeking action against the actor and his wife.
Deshpande alleged violation of the Preconception & Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act. She sought AbRam's birth documents from the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) to pursue her complaint.
But, the lower court rejected Deshpande's plea, following which the activist moved the high court. Justice Revati Mohite Dere from the Bombay High Court upheld the lower court's order when the petition came up for hearing on Thursday.
SRK's lawyer Pranav Badheka told the court that the bollywood star did not conduct pre-birth sex determination test for their baby. He also argued that Deshpande does not have any rights to seek AbRam's birth documents, reported the Press Trust of India.
The MCGM told the high court that they inquired about the allegations and found that they were baseless.
On Thursday, Dere observed that "while the right to privacy cannot supersede any alleged violations of the anti-sex determination law, the magistrate had the powers to decide whether to grant access to birth records or not," according to the Mumbai Mirror. The high court upheld the lower court's order and refused to give the birth records of the baby.
AbRam was born premature at 34 weeks in May 2013. He is the third child of the couple after their teenage childran Aryan (16) and Suhana (13).
