Nayanthara on surrogacy row: Marriage registered 6 years ago

Nayanthara and Vignesh Sivan, who are facing a government probe for having twins born through surrogacy, have now admitted their marriage had been registered six years ago. And, that the surrogate mother is none other than Nayanthara’s relative based in Dubai, who handles the actor’s business interests in the country.

This information has been provided in an affidavit submitted by the couple to the Tamil Nadu health department, after health minister Ma Subramanian had ordered a probe to ascertain whether the couple had violated surrogacy laws. In their affidavit, the couple said that though they had a wedding ceremony in June this year, their marriage was registered six years ago. A document to that effect has also been given to the authorities, said news reports.

What does the surrogacy law say

The 2021 Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act states that a couple is eligible for surrogacy only if they have been married for over five years. The wife should be between 25 and 50 years, while the husband should be between 26 to 55 years. Moreover, the couple must not have a biological child or a child by adoption to opt for surrogacy.

While the surrogate must be a married woman with a child of her own and should be between 25 and 35 years. She can be a surrogate mother only once in her lifetime.

Also read: Birth of Nayanthara-Vignesh twins raises surrogacy questions

Violation of the law?

In Nayanthara and Sivan’s case, who got married in a high-profile wedding attended by her Jawan co-star Shah Rukh Khan, and Rajnikanth etc., only in June this year, will end up violating the rule that the couple should be married at least for five years. There’s even a documentary streaming on Netflix titled ‘Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale’ about her recent wedding.

The couple however denied violating the law. They claimed they had signed the agreement with the surrogate mother only in December last year and that the twins were reportedly born in a hospital in Chennai.

Also read: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan blessed with twin baby boys; see pictures

On October 9, Vignesh had shared the good news with the world through an Instagram post. “Nayan and Me have become Amma and Appa. We are blessed with Twin Baby Boys. All Our prayers, our ancestors’ blessings combined with all the good manifestations made, have come 2gethr in the form Of 2 blessed babies for us. Need all ur blessings for our Uyir and Ulagam. Life looks brighter and more beautiful. God is double great,” his post read.