Paternity test of child can be allowed in marital dispute: SC

NEW DELHI: Though the legitimacy of a child born during marriage is presumed, Supreme Court Wednesday held that a child can be subjected to a paternity test in a matrimonial dispute in which a man has sought divorce on the ground of alleged unchaste character of his wife and has claimed that he is not the child's biological father.A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale rejected the plea of a woman who had opposed a paternity test of the child. She contended it was a settled principle of law that no party can be forced to undergo a DNA test, and the divorce plea of her husband should be decided without the paternity test."If you are loyal, then why should you object to the test," the bench asked. It upheld orders passed by a family court in Pune and Bombay HC directing a DNA