DNA Test Clears Cloth Merchant of Paternity, Overturns Maintenance Order

In a recent development, a 65-year-old cloth merchant in Dholka, India, has secured temporary relief from paying maintenance to his estranged wife. This comes after a sessions court considered DNA reports that disproved his paternity of one of their two children.

The case began in 2021 when the husband filed for divorce in a family court in Ahmedabad, citing his wife's infidelity. As the wife sought maintenance through the JMFC court in Dholka, the husband produced a DNA report from a private Delhi laboratory suggesting he was not the biological father of their daughter. He later obtained a second DNA test from the Forensic Science Laboratory in Gandhinagar, which confirmed the earlier finding.

Challenging the JMFC court's order to pay Rs 3,000 monthly maintenance, the husband moved the sessions court. After reviewing the evidence, the sessions court has now ruled that the lower court's order needs to be remanded back for a fresh consideration, with specific instructions to properly examine the DNA reports and their bearing on the wife's entitlement to maintenance.