“This day, I have unburdened the decades-old load of agony from my head,” said Rohit Shekhar reacting to the DNA test report that declared him the biological son of senior Congress leader N.D. Tiwari.
Talking to reporters outside the Delhi High Court on Friday, Mr. Shekhar said he had moved the court only after Mr. Tiwari refused to own that he was his son despite long years of persuasion by him, his mother and other family members.
The 32-year-old advocate said the test report had raised the esteem of his mother, late maternal grandfather and former Minister of State for Defence Sher Singh, and grandmother.
Mr. Shekhar, however, said the battle had not ended but had begun. “Now I am not an illegitimate son, I have the right to use the Congress leader’s surname.”
His mother Ujjwala Sharma said the truth had won and the lie had been nailed. She said it was not the defeat of any individual but of the lie.
“Don’t make it an issue”
PTI reports from Dehra Dun:
In Dehra Dun, Mr. Tiwari said no one should make an issue of the paternity suit episode. He had the right to live on his own terms and he bore no grudge against Rohit.
Mr. Tiwari did not face the media that had assembled outside his home for his reaction to the court ruling, but released a statement through one of his aides. The former Andhra Pradesh Governor said he would always respect the decision of the judiciary.
“Due to my simplicity, at this point of my age, people I trusted conspired against me... I hold no grudge against them. My sympathy is with Rohit Shekhar.”
