Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Principal bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur has upheld a family court order directing a DNA test of a minor child in a matrimonial dispute, ruling that such a test is legally permissible when sought to establish allegations of adultery and not to question the child’s legitimacy.
Justice Vivek Jain dismissed a petition filed by the wife challenging the August 18, 2022, order of the family court, Jabalpur, which had allowed the husband’s application for conducting a DNA test of the girl child born during the subsistence of their marriage.
The case arises from a divorce petition filed by the husband, an Indian Army personnel, on the grounds of adultery. The wife, a constable in the Madhya Pradesh Police, posted in Jabalpur, had approached the High Court arguing that the family court’s direction violated the child’s right to privacy and would cast a stigma on her legitimacy.
She relied on Supreme Court judgments to contend that under Section 112 of the Indian Evidence Act, a child born during wedlock carries a strong presumption of legitimacy, which cannot be lightly disturbed.
Opposing the plea, the husband submitted that the DNA test was crucial to prove adultery and not to declare the child illegitimate. He pointed out that this was the third divorce petition between the parties. The first petition, filed in 2019, was withdrawn after both parties expressed their intent to seek divorce by mutual consent.
A second petition under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act was later closed due to the wife’s failure to appear for the second motion. The present divorce petition has been pending since 2021.
The husband alleged that he had no access to his wife at the time when the child could have been conceived. According to his pleadings, he was called home from his Army posting in October 2015 and was informed within four days that his wife was pregnant—an assertion he later learned was medically implausible.
He further claimed that the child was born within eight months, strengthening his allegation of non-access and adultery.
After examining Supreme Court precedents, including Dipanwita Roy v. Ronobroto Roy and Aparna Ajinkya Firodia v. Ajinkya Arun Firodia, as well as recent judgments delivered in 2025, the High Court observed that DNA tests may be ordered in exceptional cases where adultery is alleged and sufficient pleadings of non-access exist. The Court emphasised that in such cases, the legitimacy of the child is only an incidental issue.
Justice Jain noted that the husband was not seeking to avoid parental responsibility or to brand the child as illegitimate, but was seeking scientific evidence to substantiate his allegation of infidelity -- something that could otherwise be difficult to prove.
Upholding the family court’s order, the HC dismissed the wife’s petition. It further observed that if the wife refuses to provide DNA samples, the family court would be at liberty to draw an adverse inference under Section 114(h) of the Indian Evidence Act or corresponding provisions of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.
