Mumbai: Observing that a child born during continuance of a valid marriage or even within a year after its dissolution is conclusive proof that it is legitimate, the Bombay High Court has refused to direct a woman and her teenage daughter to undergo DNA tests to prove parentage.
Justice Sadhana Jadhav dismissed a petition filed by Layyapa Patil seeking direction to his wife Mirabai and their 16-year-old daughter to undergo DNA and blood tests to ascertain if he is the father.
Patil also sought Mirabai's cousin Ashok Godhe to undergo the tests as he has alleged that his wife and Ashok had illicit relations and that the girl was his daughter.
Layyapa and Mirabai got married in June 1994. Layyapa works in the merchant navy and hence was on ship most of the time. However, between September 1996 to December 1996 he was living with his wife. A girl was born to Mirabai in June 1997.
Relations between Layyapa and Mirabai soured following which they decided to dissolve the marriage. However, when Mirabai sought maintenance for herself and their daughter, Layyapa refused and alleged that he is not the father to the girl.
Layyapa initially filed a suit before a civil court in Sangli seeking a declaration that he is not the biological father. When the court rejected his plea, he approached the high court.
"The birth of a child during continuance of a valid marriage or even within 280 days after its dissolution is conclusive proof that child was legitimate unless the husband and wife had no access to each other at any time when conception took place," Justice Jadhav said.
"In the present case, there is no good ground to hold that the parties (Layyapa and Mirabai) had no access with each other, at least, till June 1997. It is pertinent to note that for the first time the said contention about questioning the paternity was raised only after filing of the maintenance petition by the wife," the high court said.
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