Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Bringing an end to the controversy over paternity suit filed against veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari, Delhi High Court on Friday acknowledged that the youth Rohit Shekhar is his son.
The court ruled that there is enough evidence to prove that Tiwari fathered him.
The court, however, also ruled that Tiwari cannot to be compelled to go for a paternity test, saying, “Congress leader N D Tiwari can't be compelled to give blood samples for DNA test in paternity suit”.
During the proceedings, Tiwari's counsel cited several Supreme Court judgments to argue that his client "can't be compelled to give blood sample or undergo any other test like narco-analysis".
He further submitted that Tiwari could not be pressured into giving even his nail, hair and skin samples the clinching test.
Counsel for claimant Rohit Shekhar (31), however, urged the court to ensure that the 85-year-old leader complied with the directive of a single-judge bench of the high court, later upheld by its division bench and subsequently by the Supreme Court.
He alleged that Tiwari was indulging in "gross misuse of process of law".
Earlier, Justice Gita Mittal had pulled up Tiwari for refusing to either admit or deny, through an affidavit, the authenticity of more than 100 of his photographs with Rohit and his mother, Ujjwala Sharma, submitted to the court.
Tiwari made light of the photographs, saying he was a public figure who got photographed without prior notice and he could not be expected to recall all the pictures.
Tiwari had filed his application opposing the order of the court's joint registrar to appear in the high court dispensary on June 1 to give his blood sample for the DNA test.
First Published: Friday, September 23, 2011, 17:39