{"id":106412,"date":"2026-06-03T11:37:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=106412"},"modified":"2026-06-03T11:49:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:19:47","slug":"dna-test-in-paternity-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/dna-test-in-paternity-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA Test in Paternity Cases: Supreme Court on Privacy, Identity and Inheritance Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>DNA Test in Paternity Cases Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court recently dismissed a challenge against orders directing a man (referred to as CP) to undergo a DNA test.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The case was filed by a person claiming to be CP&#8217;s biological son, who sought both a declaration of paternity and a share in CP&#8217;s property.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CP had been denying the claim since 1999 \u2014 over two decades. The Court upheld the DNA test order, balancing CP&#8217;s right to privacy against the alleged son&#8217;s right to establish his identity and inheritance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Background: The Legal Framework<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Section 116 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (Earlier it was Section 112 of the Indian Evidence Act)<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a child is born during a valid marriage \u2014 or within 280 days of its dissolution \u2014 the law presumes that child to be the legitimate child of the husband.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This presumption can only be overturned by proving that the husband and wife had no access to each other at the time of conception.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mere suspicion or assertion is not enough. The intent is clear: protect the child&#8217;s legitimacy and dignity.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>The Problem: No Law Explicitly Allows DNA Testing<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no statute in India that expressly authorises courts to order DNA tests.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The entire framework has evolved through judge-made law \u2014 that is, through Supreme Court judgments over the years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Evolution Through Case Law<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court&#8217;s position on DNA testing in paternity disputes has developed gradually, with each case adding a new layer of nuance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-106440\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiramias.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp\/current-affairs\/2026\/06\/image4.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"952\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vajiramias.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp\/current-affairs\/2026\/06\/image4.webp 952w, https:\/\/vajiramias.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp\/current-affairs\/2026\/06\/image4-768x415.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 952px) 100vw, 952px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The common thread across all these judgments: courts are reluctant to order DNA tests and will do so only as a last resort.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Three-Part Test: When Can a Court Order a DNA Test<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court laid down three conditions that must be satisfied:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Paternity must be directly in issue<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 it must be the central question in the case, not a peripheral one.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>No other evidence should be available<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 if paternity can be established through other means, a DNA test should not be ordered.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>It must be in the best interest of the parties or justice<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 the court must weigh the harm of ordering the test against the harm of not ordering it.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Present Case: How the Court Decided<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this case, all three conditions were met. CP had denied paternity for over 20 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was no other evidence on record. The alleged son had no other way to establish his identity or claim his inheritance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court framed the issue honestly: CP&#8217;s right to privacy was real, but so was the alleged son&#8217;s right to closure on a question that had defined his entire life.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Denying the test would mean denying him rights he might legitimately be entitled to \u2014 forever.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court therefore upheld the DNA test order.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Ethical Dimensions Touched by This Judgement<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Right to Privacy (Article 21)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Puttaswamy judgment<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2017) recognised privacy as a fundamental right. This case shows that even <\/span><b>fundamental rights are not absolute<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 they must be balanced against competing rights and interests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Judicial Activism vs. Judicial Restraint<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 Courts have built an entire framework on DNA testing without any legislative backing. This raises questions about the role of the judiciary in filling legislative gaps.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Rights of the Child<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 The tension between a child&#8217;s right to legitimacy and a child&#8217;s right to know their biological identity is a recurring theme in family law.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b><strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/supreme-court-dna-test-ruling-paternity-disputes-10718942\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/sc-childs-right-to-know-father-outweighs-privacy\/articleshow\/131417712.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ToI<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DNA Test in Paternity Cases highlights the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling balancing privacy rights with an individual&#8217;s right to establish paternity, identity, and inheritance claims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":106437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[7915,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-106412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-dna-test-in-paternity-cases","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs-tag","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106412"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106466,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106412\/revisions\/106466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}