Lawyer: Impossible for Indian Man to Sue His Parents for Giving Birth to Him

Stock photo of a baby's feet. (Vitamin/Pixabay)

A 27-year-old Indian man is going viral after he claimed he wants to sue his parents for not giving his consent to giving birth to him. But some have slammed it as a PR stunt.

Raphael Samuel, who wore a fake beard and glasses, said that his parents gave birth to him without his consent, so they should pay for his life.

“If we are born without our consent, we should be maintained for our life. We should be paid by our parents to live,” he said, Fox News reported.

“I want everyone in India and the world to realize one thing that they are born without their consent. I want them to understand that they do not owe their parents anything,” he said. “If we are born without our consent, we should be maintained for our life. We should be paid by our parents to live.”

The comments made by Samuel, who reportedly is a businessman, have been picked up by a number of news outlets, which have offered little in the way critical feedback of his idea.

“I wish I was not born. But it’s not that I’m unhappy in my life. My life is good, but I'd rather not be here. You know it’s like there’s a nice room, but I don’t want to be in that room,” he also stated, the BBC reported.

Legal Criticism

Viva Frei, a lawyer who operates a YouTube channel, wrote that Samuel’s suit is “hands-down, the stupidest lawsuit I have ever heard of.”

“It’s an obvious publicity stunt, and possibly even a social experiment, but it can nonetheless teach us something in law,” he wrote.

He said despite its stupidity, there is something to be learned about it, adding that in order to file a lawsuit, one has to prove the fault, damages, and causal link between the two.

The lawsuit “is going to fail and going to fail hard,” Frei emphasized.

“Even by this kid’s own admission, his life has been wonderful; he has nothing to complain about,” he said, suggesting that merely living and death doesn’t constitute damages.

In law, he said, consent of a newborn or a minor is not required for parents to carry out certain acts.

“A parent doesn’t need to the obtain consent of someone who is unable to give consent,” Frei said, adding that a newborn, under the law, is incapable of giving consent.

Frei joked that hypothetically, the parent could be sued if they “[delivered] a baby while skydiving and the baby gets injured.”

“Raphael Samuel, by his own admission, has not sustained any damages as a result of being born without his consent,” he concluded, “so this case is going to get dismissed.”

Criticism

Others slammed Samuel on social media for the stunt.

“Raphael Samuel’s parents should counter-sue for room and board, clothing and his education cost that they paid for,” said one person on Twitter.

Another asked if he “is seemingly so ashamed of his actions he has to wear a disguise to go out in public or have his picture taken?” Samuel “knows this is morally wrong,” the person added.

On Facebook, Samuel’s post drew heavy criticism from people, who claimed he was attempting a PR stunt.

“If he finds legal counsel to represent such idiotic nonsense, they should be disbarred! This poor young man is extremely deranged & should be placed in a mental facility,” wrote one person.

“How dare you to take blood nutrients and oxygen from a woman for 9 months?” asked another person.

“He should be grateful that he has an existence in this world we call Earth,” said another. “Ungratefulness is not determination. It is a lack of gratitude for the mere fact that he’s alive.”