New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Congress leader and former Andhra Pradesh governor N D Tiwari’s ‘harm-to-reputation’ argument and ordered him to give blood samples for DNA profiling to test the veracity of the paternity claim of Rohit Shekhar, born to Ujjwala Sharma.
Tiwari, who had told the Delhi high court to draw adverse inference against him in the suit for not giving the blood samples, will now be left with no option but to comply with the apex court’s order.
A bench of Justices Deepak Verma and S J Mukhopadhaya asked the Dehradun district judge to accompany the civil surgeon and pathologist to meet Tiwari on May 29 to draw blood samples and then send it to Hyderabad-based Central Forensic Science Laboratory for DNA profiling.
In the suit filed by Shekhar and his mother Ujjwala, the Delhi HC had repeatedly ordered Tiwari to give blood samples, the first of which was passed on December 23, 2010. Exasperated by the long delay in compliance of its orders, the HC had on April 27 asked police to force Tiwari to give blood samples for DNA profiling to test whether he fathered Shekhar.
Tiwari’s counsel, senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, attempted to differentiate between a civil suit and a criminal case to fault the HC’s direction to police to force the Congress leader to part with the blood sample. “Let an adverse inference be drawn against Tiwari, but no one can be forced to give evidence against himself,” he argued.
It did not impress a bench of Justices Verma and Mukhopadhaya.
As a last resort, Subramaniam argued that Tiwari was 88 years old and found it difficult to move around. The bench responded tersely, “This is no way of saying I am 88 years old and I will not comply with court order. The high court passed the coercive order because you did not cooperate.”
Subramaniam said the matter should not be part of public discussion. But the bench asked, “Why did you not seek in-camera proceedings before the high court?”
Tiwari, who had told the Delhi high court to draw adverse inference against him in the suit for not giving the blood samples, will now be left with no option but to comply with the apex court’s order.
A bench of Justices Deepak Verma and S J Mukhopadhaya asked the Dehradun district judge to accompany the civil surgeon and pathologist to meet Tiwari on May 29 to draw blood samples and then send it to Hyderabad-based Central Forensic Science Laboratory for DNA profiling.
In the suit filed by Shekhar and his mother Ujjwala, the Delhi HC had repeatedly ordered Tiwari to give blood samples, the first of which was passed on December 23, 2010. Exasperated by the long delay in compliance of its orders, the HC had on April 27 asked police to force Tiwari to give blood samples for DNA profiling to test whether he fathered Shekhar.
Tiwari’s counsel, senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, attempted to differentiate between a civil suit and a criminal case to fault the HC’s direction to police to force the Congress leader to part with the blood sample. “Let an adverse inference be drawn against Tiwari, but no one can be forced to give evidence against himself,” he argued.
It did not impress a bench of Justices Verma and Mukhopadhaya.
As a last resort, Subramaniam argued that Tiwari was 88 years old and found it difficult to move around. The bench responded tersely, “This is no way of saying I am 88 years old and I will not comply with court order. The high court passed the coercive order because you did not cooperate.”
Subramaniam said the matter should not be part of public discussion. But the bench asked, “Why did you not seek in-camera proceedings before the high court?”
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