India, Oct. 9 -- The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday held that the age bar for couples under the Surrogacy Regulation Act, 2021, will not apply if the husband and wife had frozen their embryos and commenced the process of surrogacy prior to the commencement of the law on January 25, 2022.

The court was hearing applications moved by three couples who challenged the age bar of 23 to 50 years for women and 26 to 55 years for men under the Act, arguing that the restrictions should not apply to them as they had frozen their gametes long before the Act came into force.

These applications were filed in a petition submitted by infertility specialist Arun Muthuvel, who has challenged the amendments to the 2021 law.

The bench of justices B.V. Nag...