HC order on Tiwari's DNA test challenged

Rohit Shekhar, who claims to be the biological son of veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari, on Tuesday filed an appeal in the Delhi high court challenging its single judge order exempting Tiwari from giving his blood sample for DNA test to decide a paternity suit.

Rohit Shekhar, who claims to be the biological son of veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari, on Tuesday filed an appeal in the Delhi high court challenging its single judge order exempting Tiwari from giving his blood sample for DNA test to decide a paternity suit.

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In the appeal against the September 23 order, Rohit contended the judge has failed to consider that if 85-year-old Tiwari is not compelled to submit his blood sample in compliance with the court's earlier order, it would be difficult for him to get justice.

"The single judge failed to satisfactorily deal with high-handed and dismissive conduct of Tiwari," a former chief minister of UP and Uttarakhand, said 31-year-old Rohit. Tiwari is also a former governor of Andhra Pradesh.

"The court also failed to appreciate that an adverse inference can never have the same effect as a conclusive scientific determination of paternity," he submitted.

Rohit said, "With each passing day, the possibility of getting justice is fading out on account of the apprehension of a very critical evidence being lost forever..."

A bench headed by Justice SK Kaul, before which the appeal came up for hearing, transferred the matter to another bench and fixed November 22 as the next date of hearing.

Justice Gita Mittal had on September 23 ruled, "Tiwari cannot be physically compelled or confined for submitting a blood sample for DNA profiling to implement its December 2010 judgement."

At the same time, the judge also recorded that his (Tiwari's) persistent refusal can lead to the presumption that he is his father.