The Kerala high court has ruled that courts cannot allow DNA testing in all cases, but only in those matters where a strong prima facie case is made out in favour of the person who seeks the test.
"The court finds that one cannot seek DNA test to be done only in his/her attempt to fish out evidence in support of his/her case. Unless and until the applicant makes out a strong prima facie case, such an application is not liable to be allowed," it said while allowing a petition challenging a trial court's decision to allow a DNA test to be conducted in a property dispute.
The trial court order came on a petition filed by a woman before a trial court in 2017, staking claim to land belonging to a man who died in the 1980s on the grounds that the dead man was her father, and that he had been married to her mother before he wedded another woman. She claimed that she was born out of the man's first marriage and hence, she and her mother were entitled to a part of his property.
This was contested by the dead man's son, who contended that his father was never married to anyone else other than his mother. Hence to prove her parentage, she filed an application for conducting a sibling DNA test, which a magistrate's court allowed.
The man's son subsequently filed an original petition before the high court and after going through the facts of the entire case, it said: "It's already held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the existence of a strong prima facie case is a sine qua non to seek conduct of the DNA test. Here, the plaintiff/ applicant herself admits that there exists no evidence, except the aspect sought to be proved by DNA analysis ..."
"DNA analysis, even if allowed, will not establish the marriage between (the deceased man and the plaintiff's mother). At best, it may prove that the plaintiff is the daughter (of the deceased man). The proof of the same, by itself, would not carry the plaintiff anywhere. The prayer is one for partition," the high court said as it set aside the order allowing the conduct of a DNA test.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Vietnamese Father Discovers Daughter Was Swapped At Birth Through DNA Test Uttering Of Unpleasant Words Against Woman Not Insult To Modesty: Court How A DNA Test Revealed Two Women Were Swapped At Birth Russia's Firing Of ICBM On Ukraine Is Weapon's 1st Combat Use In History Meet 69-Year-Old St Stephen's Alumnus Who Posed As Ex IPS To Con Officials Russia Launches ICBM At Ukraine In Stern Message To Kyiv, Western Allies Benefits Of A High-Protein Breakfast In The Morning Russian Spokeswoman Gets Call On Live TV Saying "Not Commenting" On ICBMs Maharashtra's 65.1% Voter Turnout Is 2nd Highest 1990s, Highest In A Decade Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.