Blitz Bureau
THE Delhi High Court recently came to the aid of a woman who sought to have her school records updated so that they reflected her biological mother’s name, instead of her stepmother’s name, according to Bar and Bench. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma observed that it is a fundamental right of an individual to have their identity linked to their biological mother.
“In a democratic society that upholds the legal rights of every citizen, the petitioner must be allowed to have her biological mother’s name recorded in her official records. The petitioner has been cared for and nurtured by her biological mother after she was allegedly forced to leave her biological father’s home due to illtreatment by him and her stepmother … Denying this relief would burden her with an unnecessary psychological stress, forcing her to live with the name of her stepmother, who does not reflect the truth of her familial and emotional life,” the court added.
The parents of the woman had divorced when she was young. Her initial school records contained the names of her biological parents. However, after her father remarried, the woman’s school records later reflected the name of her stepmother (her father’s second wife) instead of the woman’s biological mother.
