Legitimacy of Child -- DNA Test to Rebut Presumption -- Not to be ordered as a matter of routine
(i) Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, S.116 -- Legitimacy of Child -- DNA Test to Rebut Presumption -- Courts cannot order a DNA or blood test as a matter of course, nor to facilitate a roving inquiry -- Husband must establish a strong prima facie case of non-access to dispel the presumption of legitimacy -- Court must examine the consequence of ordering such a test, including whether it would brand the child illegitimate and the mother unchaste, and no person can be compelled to give a sample for such testing. (ii) Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, S.116 -- Legitimacy of Child -- DNA Test Sought to Prove Infidelity -- DNA testing cannot be used as a shortcut to establish marital infidelity -- Question of permitting such a test on a child must be examined from the perspective of the child and not the parents -- Child cannot be used as a pawn to establish the alleged adulterous conduct of a parent, and the child’s right to identity cannot be sacrificed, though the husband remains free to prove such conduct through other evidence.
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