Kerala High Court allows life convict's temporary release on leave to undergo IVF treatment

The Kerala High Court recently directed the Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services to grant a life convict leave of at least 15 days so that he can continue undergoing In vitro fertilization or IVF treatment along with his wife to have a child. .The life convict's wife had moved a petition before the High Court stating that it was her dream to have a child with her husband and that her husband's presence was necessary to continue the IVF treatment. .Justice PV Kunhikrishnan said that the Court could not ignore such a request on technicalities. .“It is true that a convict is not entitled to all the fundamental rights available under the Constitution of India. But, the petitioner, the wife of the convict, is coming before this Court saying that she and her husband want to see a child of their own. The petitioner is aged 31 years ... When a wife comes before this Court with a request that she wants a child in the relationship with her husband who is undergoing imprisonment in Central Jail, this Court cannot ignore the same on technicalities," the judge said. .The Court further emphasised that the goal of imprisonment is to reform a person and that a convict has every right to lead a decent life just like any other citizen once he is released from jail..“Conviction and sentence in criminal cases is mainly to reform and rehabilitate the offenders. The state and society want to see the convict coming out of jail after rejuvenation as a reformed man/woman who will be part of our society. A person who has undergone a sentence in a criminal case need not be treated as a different person when he comes out. He has every right to lead a decent life just like any other citizen,” the High Court said. .However, the High Court also clarified that this order need not be taken as a precedent in all cases and that each case has to be considered based on its own merit.“The genuineness of the claim is important. The convicts cannot make use of this to get out of jail. Each case has to be considered based on the genuineness of the claim,” the Court said..The convict, in this case, had been in jail for seven years. He had got married in 2012, but no children were born out of the wedlock. His wife told the Court that she and her husband had been undergoing several forms of medicinal treatment to have a child, although these efforts had not been successful as of yet. They later started IVF treatment. To continue this treatment, the presence of the husband was necessary for three months, the wife submitted. To support her claim, she also produced a letter issued from the hospital which indicated that her husband's presence was required for the IVF treatment to work. The wife approached the High Court on the matter after requests made to the prison authorities were not met with any positive response. .The public prosecutor opposed the wife's request in Court, arguing that her husband did not have any leaves. .The High Court has now ordered the prison authorities to allow the convict's release on leave for at least 15 days so that the couple can continue IVF or Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection procedures (infertility treatments). The leave has to be granted in accordance with the relevant rules within two weeks, the Court added in its order September 29 order..The petitioner (wife) was represented by advocates Ajeesh K Sasi, PM Rafiq, M Revikrishnan, Sruthy N Bhat, Sruthy KK, Nikitha J Mendez, and Rahul Sunil.The State and prison authorities were represented by Public Prosecutor Hritwick CS.