Delhi HC Grants Interim Relief To Family Seeking 'Postmortem Sperm Retrieval' Of Deceased Man For Potential Use In Assisted Reproductive Therapy

The Delhi High Court recently ordered that Postmortem Sperm Retrieval (PMSR) procedure be conducted on a man who committed suicide in the national capital on January 22.

Justice Sachin Datta was dealing with a plea moved by the parents and sister of the deceased seeking that his semen be preserved through PMSR, a process which allows retrieval of viable sperm from a deceased individual for potential future use in Assisted Reproductive Therapy (ART).

“Given the circumstances set out in the petition and the above submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioners, and considering that the PMSR procedure would be efficacious only if it is performed expeditiously, this Court accedes to the request of the petitioner for performing the procedure on the body of the deceased,” the Court said.

The petitioners placed reliance on a recent judgment of a coordinate bench in Gurvinder Singh & Anr v. Government of NCT of Delhi and Ors. wherein it was held that the semen sample constitutes property under Indian law and includes both tangible and intangible assets encompassing the estate of the deceased.

The counsel appearing for the concerned Hospital submitted that the hospital did not have the wherewithal to perform the procedure.

Accordingly, at the request of counsel appearing for the petitioners, the Court directed the hospital to endeavour to arrange for the PMSR procedure to be performed through any other hospital, at the risk and cost of the petitioners.

“It is directed accordingly. The retrieved sperm shall be preserved by the Hospital where the procedure is performed, in accordance with the standard procedures. The same shall be subject to further orders in the writ petition,” the Court said.

Issuing notice on the plea, the Court clarified that the directions have been passed at the request of counsel for the petitioner, in view of the urgency of the matter.

The matter will now be heard on July 08.

Counsel for Petitioners: Mr. Raja Choudhary, Mr. Sanyam Jain, Mr. Japdeep Singh Chahal, Mr. Amit Kr. Diwakar and Mr. Rahul Patel, Advocates

Counsel for Respondents: Mr. Anuj Aggarwal, ASC and Mr. Udit Malik, ASC along with Mr. Yash Upadhyay, Mr. Siddhant Dutt and Ms. Ishita Panday, Ms. Rima Rao and Ms. Palak Sharma, Advocates for GNCTD; Mr. Vikrant N. Goyal, Advocate along with Mr. Nitin Chandra, Advocates for UOI

Title: HEENA & ORS v. THE STATE OF NCT OF DELHI & ANR

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 98

Click here to read order