Part of the Forensic Docket on Legal Desire Forensics — how a forensic technique fared under appellate scrutiny.
The facts
In a declaratory suit, the appellant-plaintiff claimed ownership over coparcenary property belonging to the respondents-defendants’ parents.
The defendants sought to have the plaintiff subjected to a DNA test, and a Revision Petition seeking that direction was allowed by the High Court.
On appeal, the Supreme Court held that a party to a declaratory suit cannot be subjected to a DNA test against his will unless there is an eminent need for it.
It noted that the plaintiff had already adduced his evidence in the suit and was not himself interested in producing additional (DNA) evidence to prove his case, and on that basis set aside the direction compelling him to undergo the test.
Why this belongs in the Forensic Docket: An important guideline for anyone weighing whether to seek a DNA test in civil litigation: courts will not compel a party to submit to one against their will without a genuine, demonstrated need, particularly where the party seeking to rely on it is not the one being tested.
Case details
| Citation | [2021] 6 S.C.R. 1113 |
| Case number | CIVIL APPEAL No. 6153/2021 |
| Court | Indian Supreme Court |
| Decided | 2021-10-01 |
| Module | Case Method Library |
Read the full judgment (PDF), sourced from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open dataset (AWS Open Data Registry, CC-BY-4.0).
Explore more in the Forensic Docket or browse the full Forensics hub.
Where the legal industry reads first.
Enjoyed this article? Get the biggest legal industry updates, deals, appointments, insights and expert interviews in your inbox, free.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.