The twins in an Ahmedabad clinic on Friday. (AFP)

London, Feb. 1: The Gujarati family where a 46-year-old woman has acted controversially as a surrogate mother by giving birth to her daughter’s twins has sold its story to a British newspaper.

Although the sum paid by the Mail on Sunday is not known, it is likely to be between £25,000 and £50,000.

Surrogate births are not unusual in the West today but what sets this instance apart is that a woman, an orthodox Indian at that, has given birth to her own grandchildren. Given the cultural sensitivities in the Gujarati community, it is remarkable that all members of the family have been amazingly open in discussing intimate details of their personal lives with the Mail on Sunday.

The paper has published pictures of Lata Nagla, 26, a beautician in Ilford, Essex, with her babies, Neal and Nandine, a boy and a girl who weighed 4lb 7oz and 4lb respectively at birth; Lata’s mother, Rhadha Patel, also with the babies; and Lata with her husband, Aakash Nagla, aged 30.

The double-page spread is headlined, “How can anybody say this is wrong when they see our beautiful babies?”, with an explanatory sub-heading, “The grandmother who gave birth to her daughter’s twins speaks for the first time...as the family hit out at critics of their extraordinary surrogacy decision.”

The grandmother, spelt Rhadha, rather than Radha, gave birth to the twins 18 years after the last of her own four children. She is quoted as saying: “These babies are a miracle and have brought so much joy to my family. My daughter Lata is so happy. I gave the babies to her and said, ‘These are your children’. I wish you all a long and happy life together.”

She added: “I had my doubts when I was first asked to do this. I thought it was against my Hindu beliefs. But my husband urged me to do it for the sake of our daughter.”

She also explained: “Some people say what I have done is wrong. But when I handed my twins to Lata, I knew it was the best thing I have ever done.”

The twins, Neal and Nandine, were born two weeks ago by Caesarean section in Gujarat, where Rhadha lives with her husband, Chandra. She was implanted with embryos, created from Lata’s eggs and fertilised by Aakash’s sperm at a private clinic in the region.

Lata and Aakash, who married in 1999, discovered they could not have children themselves because she suffers from “Rokitansky Syndrome, a rare genetic condition which causes the uterus to develop abnormally”.

It was apparently Aakash’s father, Natwarla, who came up with the idea of a surrogate birth. His own wife, Vimla, 55, was considered but was “ruled out on medical grounds”.

Lata told the Mail on Sunday: “This is my dream come true at last. Aakash and I tried so hard to find a surrogate mother in the Asian community (in the UK) but there is a stigma attached and all the agencies we spoke to could not locate an Asian woman who would do it. When my father-in-law suggested my mother, I wasn’t sure what her reaction would be. I was overjoyed when she agreed.”

Natwarla flew to Gujarat from London and put the proposal to Rhadha, who said: “At 46, I thought that was it — that I had finished having children. I thought it was crazy. But there was one person who gave me confidence — my husband, Chandra. He urged me to go ahead with the whole thing.”

There was pressure on Rhadha because without children there was a suggestion that her daughter’s marriage could break up. Aakash is quoted as saying that his marriage might have ended because children were so important in the Asian community.

“Kids keep parents together,” he said. “When I found out four years ago that we could not have children, I broke down in tears. It put a big strain on our marriage. There was a big risk we would not stay together. We could never have afforded the £-50,000 cost of trying for a test-tube baby in England.”

Rhadha interjected: “She had been desperate to have children and they had tried everything in Britain. Coming to me seemed their last chance. Chandra said that we were all family, and that we were all so close and had so much love for one another what would be the harm in bringing another member of the family into the world.”

With Dr Nayana Patel, a fertility doctor in charge, the first two embryos implanted in Rhadha’s womb failed. Then, in spring last year, there was success after three more embryos were implanted.

Rhadha told people she was getting “fat” but went into hiding in a secret location during the last three months of her pregnancy “so nobody could see me”. She said: “I had to be careful. Here in Gujarat I live in a very religious community. I wasn’t sure what people would say if they knew the truth. I have two young daughters for whom I still have to find arranged marriage partners.”

Lata wept tears of happiness as she stood outside the delivery room and heard her mother give birth to the twins. The family lit a diya and offered prayers to Ram after the successful births.

'I would recommend surrogacy to anyone who has the problems as Lata,' said her mother.

But disagreement came from ethics groups, including Comment on Reproductive Ethics, whose spokeswoman, Josephine Quintavalle, said: 'It is not ideal for a grandmother to give birth to her grandchildren. There is a confusion about social roles. A grandmother and a mother have very distinct roles. Sometimes the best way forward is to accept infertility, as harsh as that sounds.'

Aakash's mother, Vimla, commented: 'It is important for us for the baby to be born in your own blood rather than from outside the community. All I wanted to know before I died was that Aakash and his wife would be together with children.'

Aakash, who has gone to India, and Lata, have pledged they will tell Neal and Nandine how they were born when the children are 16.