Directing innocent children to undergo DNA test to prove dispute over paternity, even in maintenance cases arising out of discord between their parents, is like “asking the children to walk on fire,” the Madras High Court Bench here has said.
Justice P. Devadass made the observation while rejecting the plea of a criminal revision petitioner to subject his two minor children to DNA test to prove his claim that they and his estranged wife were not legally entitled to claim maintenance from him.
A District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate at Vadipatti near here had rejected a similar plea on September 23 on the ground that it was an attempt to avoid payment of maintenance and an indirect pressure exerted on the woman to withdraw the claim for maintenance.
However, assailing the lower court’s rejection, the petitioner claimed that the judicial officer had erred in refusing to order DNA test despite his wife having given her consent for the test. But Mr. Justice Devadass strongly backed the decision taken by the Magistrate and dismissed the revision.
The judge said: “DNA test cannot be ordered for mere asking. Even if one of the spouses is ready for the test, the court need not be ready as it involves serious emotional issues. Courts must take extreme care and caution in ordering such a test. Only when there is material strong enough to doubt the birth of the children and if it is needed, the court can order such a test.”
The judge pointed out that in the present case, there was no need for such a test since the couple had entered into a wedlock in 2006 and lived together for considerable number of years. “Then they were better halves. Now they have become bitter halves,” he said.
Further, the petitioner had questioned the paternity only during the hearing on the maintenance petition though several other cases relating to the domestic dispute were pending in various courts. Therefore, “I do not find any impropriety in the lower court order,” the judge said.
