In a landmark judgment, the Rajasthan High Court has refused to allow the DNA paternity test as a ground to prove adultery in the divorce proceedings of a couple belonging to Bhilwara. The court said the child born to the couple could not be used as a pawn in the divorce litigation and the “sanctity of childhood” could not be compromised with.
“The child cannot be used as a weapon to get divorce on the basis of adultery, on the strength of a DNA paternity test. This test cannot be conducted in a routine and mechanical manner because it will adversely affect the very mental health of the child,” Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati at the High Court’s principal seat in Jodhpur said in his recent judgment.
The court handed down the verdict on a writ petition moved by Deepak Soni, a resident of Bhilwara, seeking quashing of a November 15, 2022 order of the Family Court in Udaipur, which had rejected his plea to amend his divorce pleading on the basis of DNA paternity test of his son. The divorce application filed under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act had raised cruelty, and not adultery, as the ground for seeking divorce.
