Nikhat Parveen @ Khusboo Khatoon v. Rafique @ Shillu
Background
The appellant, formerly employed as domestic help in the respondent's home, alleged the respondent established a sexual relationship with her on the pretext of marriage; they later married in 2016, and a child was born the same year. The marriage soon broke down, and the appellant filed for maintenance for herself and the child under the Domestic Violence Act. The respondent sought a DNA test to establish paternity, and the resulting report, which the appellant consented to and never disputed, found he was not the biological father, leading the Trial Court and First Appellate Court to deny maintenance for the child; the Delhi High Court upheld this, and the mother appealed to the Supreme Court on the ground that the conclusive presumption of legitimacy under Section 112 of the Evidence Act should have protected the child's claim.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court surveyed its precedents on DNA evidence versus the statutory presumption of legitimacy, noting a consistent judicial hesitation to order DNA tests but holding that once a DNA test has actually been conducted (especially with the mother's consent and without any subsequent challenge to its result), its findings cannot be ignored in favour of the presumption, following the earlier ruling in Nandlal Wasudeo Badwaik v. Lata Nandlal Badwaik. Since the appellant had consented to the DNA test and never disputed the result, which had attained finality, the Court found no error in the High Court's decision denying maintenance from the respondent. The Court dismissed the appeal, but separately, expressing concern for the child's welfare irrespective of the paternity/maintenance dispute, directed the Delhi government's Women and Child Development department to depute an officer to check on the child's living conditions, education, nutrition, and health, and to take remedial steps if anything was found lacking.
Lesson Learnt
Where a DNA test has actually been conducted with a party's consent and its result is never challenged, courts will rely on that scientific finding over the general legal presumption of legitimacy, consenting to a paternity test and later attempting to invoke the presumption to override an unfavourable, unchallenged result will not succeed.