New Delhi:
After a six-year legal battle, the Delhi High Court today declared veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari as the biological father of Rohit Shekhar.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also injuncted Mr Tiwari from denying in public that Mr Shekhar is not his natural born son.
After hearing the verdict, Mr Shekhar's mother broke into tears while he appeared calm and composed.
The court passed the order after taking into account newspaper reports in which Mr Tiwari had admitted that Mr Shekhar is his natural born son.
It also noted in its decree that since Mr Tiwari's counsel did not appear yesterday and even today despite being informed about the proceedings, it appeared that the Congress leader did not want to fight the suit filed against him by Mr Shekhar.
Yesterday, Mr Shekhar had submitted before the court copies of recent news reports in which the Congress veteran had reportedly admitted that he was his son.
Advocates Vedant Varma and Vibhor Kush, appearing for the 32-year-old Rohit Shekhar had cited a legal provision before the court, saying that the law empowers a court to pass a decree on the ground of the admissions made by a defendant.
"We cannot solely rely on media reports," the court said yesterday, adding that let the counsel for Mr Tiwari, 89, appear before the court tomorrow (April 22) morning for advancing arguments in the case.
Mr Varma had submitted copies of four news reports, published in prominent English dailies on March 4 this year, to the court and said that Mr Tiwari has accepted before the media that Rohit is his son and it was a crucial evidence for passing of a decree.
Rohit Shekhar, in 2008, had filed the paternity suit, claiming the veteran Congress leader and 67-year-old Ujjwala Sharma were his biological parents.
Earlier, the court had rejected the plea of Mr Tiwari that he be allowed to "explore" the possibilities of an "amicable" out-of-court settlement of the 2008 paternity suit, saying that the other parties were not agreeing to the proposal.
However, the counsel for Mr Tiwari had reiterated that he was still willing to go for mediation.
The court had also closed the right of Mr Tiwari to lead evidence as he failed to appear and testify in the case.
The court had on July 27, 2012 read out that the DNA report in the case according to which Mr Tiwari was shown as Rohit's biological father.
Mr Tiwari had given blood sample for the DNA test on May 29 last year at his residence in Dehradun following the apex court's order in the case, after repeatedly contesting against undergoing the test on various grounds.