Hema Vijay Menon v. State of Maharashtra

Mrs. Hema Vijay Menon, a married woman and a highly qualified lecturer, lost her only son who was 15 years old. She and her husband decided to have a child through the means of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). On the failure of the IVF procedure, she and her husband decided to have a child through surrogacy. On the birth of her baby through a surrogate, Mrs. Menon applied for maternity leave. The concerned government authorities disapproved her leave on the grounds that there was no provision of granting maternity leave to a mother who begets a child through surrogacy. The Bombay High Court held that a mother is entitled to avail of maternity leave under Maharashtra Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1981, even though she begets the child through surrogacy, on the basis that the right to motherhood is a fundamental right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and cannot be violated. This case is important because it recognized for the first time in explicit terms that the right to motherhood is a fundamental tenet of the right to life and thus deserves protection under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.