Men in doubt of paternity should bear all DNA costs, says court

New Delhi A city court has held in a recent order that in case a man disputes the fatherhood of his child, he cannot ask his wife to share the cost of a paternity test.

Deciding a revision petition on the issue of cost-sharing, Additional Sessions Judge Deepak Garg held that if a man questions his fatherhood, he has to pay for the DNA tests and other such medical provisions himself. There will be no liability on his wife, the court ruled.

The case involved a couple who had filed for separation. When the wife sought maintenance for herself and her three daughters in a petition filed before a magistrate, the husband challenged the fatherhood of the youngest daughter and said he could not be held liable for paying alimony towards her maintenance. Allowing his application, the magistrate, in July, had asked the woman to share the cost of DNA test. The couple was asked to appear before the Medical Superintendent of the AIIMS to get paternity test done on the child.

Aggrieved, the woman then moved the Sessions court to seek quashing of the order.

Differing from the magistrate’s order, Additional Sessions Judge Deepak Garg took into account relevant provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act and observed that any child born to a married couple is presumed to be legitimate and any party questioning the same has to bear the sole onus of rebutting the presumption. “Admittedly, the child was born after the marriage of the parties and hence there is presumption in favour of the legitimacy of the child,” the judge ruled.

“If the respondent is disputing the legitimacy of the child in question, the entire cost of DNA test should be borne by the party challenging the same.”

The court also pulled up the magistrate for not passing appropriate directions to AIIMS, where doctors were to conduct the paternity test, and sent back the court records with a directive to issue correct instructions.