Chandigarh: The Centre sought information from the Punjab government regarding the pregnancy of Sidhu Moosewala’s mother through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure, flagging the age-limit set for couples to avail this recourse in order to become parents.
Under the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, the age limit for availing IVF treatment for men and women is 55 years and 50 years respectively in India.
While Moosewala’s family has not given any detail where the baby was conceived, sources close to the late singer’s kin had hinted earlier that the IVF took place abroad where the rules for conception through ART in women are more relaxed.
A medical expert, who monitored the childbirth by Moosewala’s mother Charan Kaur, 58, told ThePrint that the couple had approached them when Kaur was 13-week pregnant.
Moosewala’s father Balkaur Singh, 60, had announced the birth of his son on social media as well as posted a picture.
Punjabi singer-rapper Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu aka Sidhu Moosewala was the only child of his parents. He was killed by unidentified assailants at Mansa in May 2022, shortly after the AAP government withdrew his security.
On Wednesday, a political storm brewed in Punjab as Balkaur Singh accused the Bhagwant Mann government of harassing the family over the “legality” surrounding the childbirth.
In a video message posted on ‘X’ late Tuesday night, Singh said that officials of the Punjab government were demanding documents of his child’s birth. “At least, let the treatment be over,” he said, adding that all the requisite details would be provided in the near future.
As the opposition leaders like Congress state chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Majithia stepped up pressure, a letter from the Ministry of Health was made public wherein it sought a report from the Punjab health department regarding the IVF treatment undertaken by Moosewala’s mother.
Warring, a close friend of the family, tweeted that the chief minister was probably the only Punjabi not to congratulate the family on the birth of the newborn “Request you to stop harassing the Sidhu family & let them be happy for once!,” he added.
.@BhagwantMann ji you are probably the only punjabi who has not yet congratulated @iBalkaurSidhu ji on the birth of his newborn son and now your administration is bothering him with its legal hurdles.
Request you to stop harassing the Sidhu family & let them be happy for once! pic.twitter.com/DbKgFDZz1p
— Amarinder Singh Raja Warring (@RajaBrar_INC) March 19, 2024
Majithia alleged that the Mann government was trying to put the blame on the Centre. In a post on social media platform ‘X’, he said that even if the Government of India had sought a report on the matter, there was no hurry to send the report.
👉ਕੇਂਦਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਤੇ ਹਰ ਰੋਜ ਹੀ ਕਿਸੇ ਨਾ ਕਿਸੇ ਵਿਸ਼ੇ ਤੇ ਚਿੱਠੀਆਂ ਆਉਦੀਆਂ ਹੀ ਹਨ। ਕੀ ਹਰ ਚਿੱਠੀ ਨੂੰ ਜਨਤਕ ਕਰਕੇ ਤੁਰੰਤ ਕਾਰਵਾਈ ਕਰਦੇ ਹੋ???
👉ਇਕ ਵਾਰ ਫਿਰ ਸਾਬਿਤ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਨਾਲ ਮਿਲੇ ਹੋਏ ਹੋ।
👉ਭਗਵੰਤ ਮਾਨ ਜੀ ਜੇਕਰ ਸਿੱਧੂ ਪਰਿਵਾਰ ਵਿਚ ਐਨੇ ਦੁੱਖ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਖੁਸ਼ੀ ਆਈ ਹੈ ਤੇ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਪਰਿਵਾਰ… pic.twitter.com/ISvN3gmmjr
— Bikram Singh Majithia (@bsmajithia) March 20, 2024
Also Read: ‘Who killed Moosewala?’ The answer is not simple, says author of new book
ART rules in focus
Apart from the fact that the issue has caused political furor in the state ahead of the parliamentary elections, it has also brought the focus on ART regulations. The ART Act was passed on 20 December, 2021, by Parliament to regulate the functioning of ART clinics and banks in India.
Talking to ThePrint, Dr Rajni Jindal, who heads the Jindal Heart and Infertility Centre at Bathinda where the newborn was delivered, said the couple had approached them when Kaur was 13-week pregnant. They took care of her during the rest of the period of her pregnancy and ensured safe delivery, she added.
Dr Jindal said that the centre was not involved in the process of conception of the child at all, and added that the details can only be shared by the family.
Explaining the IVF rules, she said that the Act does not allow a woman in India to conceive twice through assisted reproductive technologies. “The Act gives only one chance to a woman to have a healthy baby through ART.”
The doctor added that the upper age limit of 50 for a woman to be able to conceive through ART was debatable.
“Normally, a couple don’t wait till their 50s to undergo ART. They take such decisions in their 30s. Couples who decide to undergo ART at an advanced age are generally those cases where they have either lost a previous child to accident or disease. Such cases are very few and far in between. In these rare cases too, till the woman is fit to carry through the pregnancy, ART is not used,” said Dr Jindal.
In such cases, she said, couples with resources go abroad because several foreign countries have relaxed rules for older women to conceive through assisted reproductive technologies.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: NIA raids homes of slain singer Moose Wala’s ‘sharpshooters’, questions families
Worthless news! The Congress and SAD are in a really sad state, not finding any worthwhile issue against the AAP government in Punjab!