Van Buren, a 35-year-old US citizen, created a flutter at the Regional Passport Office in Secunderabad when she left her seven-week-old baby boy, named Emperor, on the RPO premises to protest against the refusal of the officials to issue an Indian passport to the baby. Ms Van Buren had used a surrogate to have the baby. She had used the sperm of an anonymous person obtained from the Dr Ramadevi Fertility Centre at Ameerpet.

Ms Van Buren has been working in India for the past one-and-a-half years. On January 20, she had applied for a passport for her baby as they wanted to go to Jamaica. On scrutinising the documents, the RPO authorities told her that she had to wait because they would have to consult the ministry of external affairs. The woman came to the RPO on Wednesday evening and met the RPO’s legal officer and left. At around 5 pm, the officials heard “cries” of a baby and found an infant on the premises. After checking the CCTV footage, they identified that the baby belonged to Ms Van Buren. They found the address of the fertility centre in the passport application submitted by her and contacted the centre.

Later, the woman, along with the officials of the fertility centre, returned to the RPO and took her baby. A woman constable had been taking care of the baby till it was handed over to the mother. “She’s not the biological mother of the kid. The baby’s nationality is in question. The MEA is yet to come up with a law which governs such persons,” RPO Dr K. Srikar Reddy said. “I am not the competent authority to arrive at a decision on this matter,” he added.