The city consumer court has ordered an IVF centre to pay a Mysuru man Rs. 4.8 lakhs compensation after they promised him twins through surrogacy, but later backed out stating that single men could not have children through this process.

The victim, a 40-year old divorcee had approached Dr. Rama's Fertility IVF Centre in the hopes of having a child through surrogacy. The specialists at the centre had initially assured him that he could have a child through surrogacy, the cost of which would be around 7 lakhs. Convinced by the doctors at the clinic, the man made an initial payment of Rs. 2.25 lakhs in August 2016. However, despite repeated attempts to follow up, the man mentioned that the clinic did not allow him to meet the surrogate mother. A year later, the centre specialists coaxed him to pay an additional Rs. 2.5 lakhs, but later mentioned that the surrogate mother has taken off with the money. 

On confronting the doctors, the man mentioned that they refused to refund the money and told him that they would not be able to go through with the procedure, stating that it wasn't possible for single parents to have children through surrogacy. The man and his parents later approached the consumer court, which settled the case by ordering the centre to pay Rs. 4.8 lakhs to the man as refund and extra Rs. 3 lakhs with 10% interest for 6 weeks. 

Information for the article was sourced from Times of India. Read the original here.