SC declines Telangana HC’s order allowing DNA testing of two children

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has quashed the order of the Telangana High Court allowing DNA testing to determine the paternity of two children in a matrimonial dispute by stating that it would violate the Right To Privacy of the persons subjected to such tests.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Vikram Nath said in its order that just because something is permissible under the law cannot be directed as a matter of course and a direction to that effect would be “invasive to the physical autonomy of a person”.
“Merely because something is permissible under the law cannot be directed as a matter ofcourse to be performed particularly when a direction to that effect would be invasive to the physical autonomy of a person. The consequence thereof would not be confined to the question as to whether such an order would result in testimonial compulsion but encompasses the right to privacy as well. Such direction would violate the privacy right of the persons subjected to such tests and could be prejudicial to the future of the two children who were also sought to be brought within the ambit of the trial court’s direction,” the top court said while setting aside the Telangana High Court’s verdict.
The High Court on February 20, 2017, had ordered a DNA test on the claim made by the mother of these children that she had been “forced to cohabit and develop a physical relationship” with her brother-in-law.
The appeal in the apex court arose out of dowry harassment and the case of physical violence in which the complainant had lodged an FIR against her husband and his brother.
She had filed an application under Section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act with the appeal for direction for obtaining expert opinion for the DNA fingerprint test comparing blood samples of two minor daughters of her husband with his brother while alleging that she was forced to cohabit and develop a physical relationship with her brother-in-law and the two children were born out of that relationship.