SC refuses to stay HC order for Tiwari's DNA test

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Delhi high court order asking veteran Congress leader N D Tiwari to undergo DNA test in a paternity case.

However, a bench comprising justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha made it clear that the findings of the test would not be made public until and unless it is required by the court to decide the paternity suit against Tiwari.

The bench said the report would be kept in a sealed envelope and directed the 85-year-old leader to suggest by Friday the procedure preferred by him to undergo the DNA test.

Refusing to grant any relief, the apex court said that considering the age of the leader, it is necessary to have a DNA test so that the young man claiming to be his son is not left without any remedy if something happens to Tiwari.

Challenging the high court order, Tiwari pleaded before the apex court for immediate stay on the ruling as the process of the DNA test has already been set in motion by the court in the three-year-old paternity suit filed by a 31-year-old man claiming to be his biological son.

In his appeal, the former governor of AP submitted that such tests were not 100 per cent accurate and cannot be relied upon. "The HC has also erred in not appreciating that the law of scientific tests is not always 100 per cent foolproof ," he said.