{"id":389594,"date":"2026-07-07T11:00:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T05:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=389594"},"modified":"2026-07-07T10:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T05:13:13","slug":"del-hc-upholds-dna-testing-in-maintenance-disputes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/07\/del-hc-upholds-dna-testing-in-maintenance-disputes\/","title":{"rendered":"Reputational Discomfort Can’t Outweigh Child’s Right to Know Their Biological Parentage, Dignity, And Future; Delhi HC Upholds Order Directing DNA Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Delhi High Court:<\/span> The petition challenged Family Court’s order dated 13 March 2024 directing DNA testing in maintenance proceedings under Section 125<\/a>, Criminal Procedure Code, 1973<\/a> (CrPC). While observing that the controversy travelled beyond the ordinary questions of paternity and maintenance and concerned with the interplay between personal autonomy and legal responsibility, and whether the apprehension of reputational harm to adults could outweigh the interests of children who sought to know their biological parentage, assert their identity, and claim the legal consequences arising from a determination of paternity, the Single-Judge Bench of Dr. Swarana Kanta Sharma,* J.<\/span>, dismissed the petition and upheld the DNA-test direction in maintenance disputes, holding that where a serious and bona fide paternity dispute arises and prima facie material exists, a scientific examination cannot be foreclosed merely because the relationship between the adults may not amount to a valid marriage in law. The Court further held that alleged father’s concern for his and his first wife’s reputation cannot override the children’s right to know their biological parentage, secure their identity, and protect their future. Social discomfort of adults must yield where necessary to the constitutional and legal interests of innocent children.<\/p>\n

“Law respects the freedom of choices through which innocent lives are created, however, it will never permit responsibility for those lives to be abandoned.”<\/p>\n

Also Read: No DNA Test unless Section 112 Presumption of Legitimacy is rebutted and paternity question linked to offence: Inside Supreme Court Ruling<\/a><\/p>\n

Factual Matrix<\/p>\n

The petitioner was alleged to have lived with Respondent 1 in a relationship in the nature of marriage despite having a valid and subsisting marriage with another woman. Three children were allegedly born from the relationship between the petitioner and Respondent 1. Respondent 1 instituted proceedings under Section 125<\/a> CrPC<\/a> before the family court. According to her, the petitioner abandoned her and the children in 2005 and thereafter failed to maintain them. She alleged that when he did not return even after a month, she visited his native village and discovered that he had contracted another marriage.<\/p>\n

Although public documents and other material prima facie reflected the petitioner as the father of the children, he denied paternity, opposed DNA testing, and sought to avoid maintenance liability. His principal objection was that the DNA test could affect his reputation and that of his legally wedded wife, who held public office. In support of his defence, he relied on documents relating to his marriage with another women, their children, and his residence in Munger, Bihar.<\/p>\n

After becoming aware of the maintenance proceedings, the first wife instituted matrimonial before the family court at Munger, Bihar, seeking a declaration concerning her marital status. By judgment and decree dated 25 July 2016, declared her to be the legally wedded wife of the petitioner and held that no marital relationship existed between petitioner and Respondent 1.<\/p>\n

The petitioner thereafter relied upon that decree before the family court in Delhi and sought dismissal of the maintenance proceedings. However, by order dated 5 February 2018, the family court held that the issues could not be decided without evidence being led by the parties. Respondent 1 subsequently filed her evidence by affidavit and relied, inter alia, upon a photograph and her Aadhaar Card.<\/p>\n

Respondents 2 to 4 then filed an application under Section 45<\/a>, Evidence Act, 1872<\/a> (Evidence Act) seeking DNA testing of the petitioner and themselves for determination of paternity. The petitioner opposed that application.<\/p>\n

By impugned order dated 13 March 2024, the family court allowed the application and directed DNA testing. It held that the decree of the Munger family court only declared that Respondent 1 and the petitioner were not husband and wife. It did not create a presumption that the petitioner had never had access to Respondent 1 or that Respondents 2 to 4 could not have been born from a relationship between them. It further held that the children, who were majors, had an important right to know their paternity and could explore the means necessary to establish it.<\/p>\n

Also Read: “DNA test cannot be ordered in routine manner”: Allahabad High Court rejects husband’s plea challenging child’s paternity<\/a><\/p>\n

Issue for Determination<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Whether there existed a relationship between the petitioner and Respondent 1 which resulted in the birth of Respondent 2 to 4, who assert themselves to be the biological children of the petitioner?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Whose interest deserved greater constitutional protection, the embarrassment of an adult alleged to be the biological father, or the search for identity and future of three children?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Analysis and Findings<\/p>\n

    At the outset, the Court examined the material placed on record including alleged marriage photographs of Ravi Kumar and Geeta Devi; photographs showing the petitioner celebrating the birthdays of Respondents 2 to 4; family photographs showing the petitioner and the children together; voter identity card and ration card entries reflecting the petitioner as the husband of; school records, including eighth and tenth class certificates and school identity cards, showing the petitioner as the father of the children; and the testimony of PW-2, the landlady, who deposed that the petitioner and Respondent 1 lived together and that the children were born during their cohabitation.<\/p>\n

    The Court made it clear that it was not recording a final finding on the genuineness or evidentiary value of these documents and testimony. However, it held that the material could not be ignored. It constituted prima facie material suggesting that the petitioner and Respondent 1 may have shared a relationship from which Respondents 2 to 4 were born.<\/p>\n

    Order Directing DNA Testing<\/p>\n

    The Court noted the fact that the application for DNA examination was not made by Respondent 1 alone. It had been moved by Respondent 2 to 4 themselves, who sought to establish their biological parentage. The Court held that when children approach a court claiming that they have always been known and recognised as the children of a particular person, and place public documents and other material on record supporting that claim, the Court cannot shut its eyes merely because the validity of the relationship between the adults is disputed.<\/p>\n

    The Court asserted that the presumption under Section 112<\/a>, Evidence Act<\/a> did not arise in the peculiar facts of the case. The petitioner’s own case was that he had a valid and subsisting marriage solemnised in 1986, and that this marriage continued during the period when Respondent 1 claimed that she lived with him and the children were born. The Court held that the DNA-testing direction was intended to determine paternity, which lay at the heart of the maintenance proceedings. It was not meant to reopen the issue concerning the validity of the alleged marriage between the parties.<\/p>\n

    The Court further observed that in the proceedings before the Family Court were under Section 125<\/a> CrPC<\/a>, Respondents 2 to 4 claimed to be the petitioner’s children and, if that claim were established, they could seek maintenance in accordance with law. Section 125(1)<\/a> CrPC<\/a> does not confine the right to maintenance to legitimate children; it expressly includes illegitimate children. Thus, paternity had a direct and substantial bearing on the maintenance proceedings.<\/p>\n

    The Court further stated that it was not concerned with the morality or desirability of the alleged relationship. The inquiry was narrower: whether the petitioner was the biological father of the three children. The Court referred to Chaturbhuj Pradhan<\/span> v. Amar Pradhan<\/span>, 2026 SCC OnLine SC 994<\/a> and Goutam Kundu<\/span> v. State of W.B.<\/span>, (1993) 3 SCC 418<\/a>, wherein it was established that DNA testing cannot be ordered as a routine measure or for a roving inquiry; that there must ordinarily be a strong prima facie case; that the consequences for the child, including social stigma, must be considered; and that the court must balance privacy, dignity, the child’s interest in knowing biological parentage, the sufficiency of existing evidence, and the need for scientific evidence. The essential test is whether the result of the DNA test is directly in issue, whether other evidence can substitute for the answer that scientific testing may provide, and whether the test is in the interests of the parties and justice. It further noted that the Supreme Court had balanced the privacy of the alleged father against the child’s desire for closure regarding a question that had shaped his life.<\/p>\n

    Reputation Cannot Become a Shield Against Truth<\/p>\n

    The Court considered the petitioner’s plea that DNA testing would harm his reputation and that of his first wife. It held that when the anxiety of an alleged biological father to preserve his and his first wife’s reputation was weighed against the right of the children to know their parentage, “the constitutional conscience of this Court”<\/span> would not hesitate to hold that the former may yield where necessary. The latter could not be sacrificed merely to avoid social discomfort.<\/p>\n

    The Court rejected the petitioner’s argument regarding reputational harm and observed that the petitioner simultaneously claimed that he had no connection with Respondents 1 to 4 and did not know them. If that assertion were true, a DNA test would conclusively vindicate his position and protect his reputation. The Court questioned why he should fear a DNA test if he had no connection with the respondents and no explanation for the documents, photographs, and evidence suggesting that he lived with Respondent 1 for a considerable period.<\/p>\n

    The Court observed that the apprehended injury to reputation was prima facie a consequence of circumstances reflected in the evidence and documents. It noted that the petitioner’s legally wedded wife held public office and that this appeared to have prompted an attempt to retrospectively erase a chapter of his life and his alleged voluntary choices. The Court held that the law cannot permit history to be rewritten merely because present social circumstances make a person uncomfortable about the past.<\/p>\n

    The Court stated that it does not create facts; it examines the facts and evidence placed before it. If reputational consequences flow from an adult’s conscious choices, the judicial process cannot be blamed for revealing what the person may have chosen to create. The Court rejected the proposition that the judicial process should avoid uncovering facts merely because the truth might cause embarrassment.<\/p>\n

    The Court nevertheless recognised that the petitioner’s first wife might be an innocent victim of circumstances created by her husband’s conduct and could not be blamed. Any suffering caused to her would be unfortunate. However, sympathy for her position could not justify denying justice to three other innocent children. A perceived hardship could not be remedied by imposing hardship on children who had no role in creating the circumstances.<\/p>\n

    Children Cannot Become Casualties of Adult Choices<\/p>\n

    The Court observed that constitutional jurisprudence has increasingly recognised the autonomy of adults to choose their partners, including outside marriage, and has generally not interfered with such choices. However, it held that the exercise of personal freedom carries corresponding obligations in appropriate cases. Courts and law cannot permit a citizen to invoke personal liberty while rejecting the accountability arising from the exercise of that liberty.<\/p>\n

    The Court stated that the children born from the alleged union were entirely innocent. They had no choice concerning the circumstances of their birth or the nature of the relationship from which they were born. They were unaware that their parents may not have been legally married. Their school records, identity documents, and social recognition prima facie depicted the petitioner as their father. Those records had not been created by the children but by the adults from whose union they were born.<\/p>\n

    The Court noted that the decision to bring the children into the world and confer upon them an identity of parentage was made by the two adults. One of those adults was now attempting to distance himself from those decisions in order to protect his own and his legally wedded wife’s social identity and reputation. The Court held that the burden of adult conduct could not be transferred to innocent children.<\/p>\n

    The Court held that where two adults enter a relationship and children are born from it, the choices of those adults cannot defeat or eclipse the children’s right to know their biological parentage. The children’s rights could not be made subservient to the conduct of the adults from whose relationship they were born.<\/p>\n

    The Court warned that a contrary approach would allow a person, after living in a relationship outside a subsisting marriage or in a live-in relationship and bringing children into the world, to subsequently deny parentage. That would leave children in lifelong uncertainty concerning identity and lineage. It would deprive them of an answer to a question going to the root of identity: who their biological parents are.<\/p>\n

    “The right of a child to know his or her biological origins and parentage is also intrinsically connected with the child‘s identity and dignity.”<\/p>\n

    The Court held where a serious and bona fide paternity dispute arises and prima facie material exists, a scientific examination cannot be foreclosed merely because the relationship between the adults may not amount to a valid marriage in law.<\/p>\n

    Also Read: ‘Person’s right to privacy cannot override right of child to know parentage’: P&H HC dismisses plea challenging order for DNA test<\/a><\/p>\n

    Decision<\/p>\n

    The Court held that the present case was ultimately not about the private choices of adults. It recognised that adults possess autonomy to make personal choices in their relationships and that courts should not sit in moral judgment over private lives. At the same time, it held that persons cannot avoid responsibility for the legal and human consequences of their choices.<\/p>\n

    The Court stated that the law respects freedom of choice but equally insists upon accountability where choices affect the rights of others, especially innocent children. Personal liberty and personal responsibility are inseparable; one cannot be claimed while the other is disowned.<\/p>\n

    “The law cannot permit adults to enjoy the privileges of choice while transferring its burdens to the childhood of those born from such choices. If the right to personal freedom is to retain its constitutional sanctity, it must be accompanied by personal accountability.”<\/p>\n

    The Court held that paternity of Respondents 2 to 4 was directly in issue in the proceedings before the family court and was not merely incidental. The respondents had placed prima facie material indicating a relationship between the petitioner and Respondent 1 and reflecting the petitioner as the father of the three children.<\/p>\n

    Since the petitioner had consistently denied paternity and there was no other evidence capable of conclusively answering whether Respondents 2 to 4 were his biological children, the direction for DNA testing could not be characterised as mechanical exercise of jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

    The Court held that the impugned order suffered from no illegality or perversity and upheld the family court’s order directing DNA testing. It clarified that nothing stated in the judgment would amount to an expression of opinion on the merits of the maintenance case.<\/p>\n

    Also Read: DNA doesn’t lie! Delhi HC upholds POCSO Conviction of father who impregnated minor daughter<\/a><\/p>\n

    [Ravi Kumar<\/span> v. Geeta Devi<\/span>, CRL.M.C. 3855\/2024, decided on 3-6-2026<\/span>]<\/p>\n

    *Judgment authored by Justice Dr. Swarana Kanta Sharma<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

    Advocates who appeared in this case:<\/p>\n

    For the Petitioner:<\/span> Ms. Babita Seth, Adv.<\/p>\n

    For the Respondents:<\/span> Ms. Neelakshi Bhadauria, Amicus Curiae with Mr. Sarthak Karol and Ms. Tanishka Pawar, Adv.<\/p>\n

    Buy Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973  HERE<\/a><\/h3>\n

    \"Code<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The High Court held that the constitutional conscience of the Court favours the child’s right to identity over an alleged father’s concern for reputation. Social embarrassment of adults may yield where necessary; the rights of innocent children cannot be sacrificed merely to avoid discomfort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67514,"featured_media":389595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[2543,33222,8601,81275,109159,88582,44798,109160,91013,12531],"class_list":["post-389594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-highcourts","tag-Delhi_High_Court","tag-dna-testing","tag-family-and-personal-law","tag-justice-dr-swarana-kanta-sharma","tag-maintenance-disputes","tag-paternity-dispute","tag-right-to-dignity","tag-right-to-establish-biological-parentage","tag-right-to-identity","tag-section-125-crpc"],"yoast_head":"\nDel HC Upholds DNA Testing in Maintenance Disputes | SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Delhi High Court upholds DNA testing in maintenance disputes, holding that children's right to establish biological parentage and claim maintenance cannot be defeated by reputational concerns.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/07\/del-hc-upholds-dna-testing-in-maintenance-disputes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reputational Discomfort Can\u2019t Outweigh Child\u2019s Right to Know Their Biological Parentage, Dignity, And Future; 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