India’s Supreme Court has held that a DNA paternity test may be ordered even where the respondent was previously acquitted in related criminal proceedings, separating civil or family-law determinations from the outcome of a criminal trial.
Paternity disputes often arise in maintenance, inheritance and guardianship cases where biological parentage is contested. Defendants have argued that an acquittal in criminal court — for example on charges of rape or adultery — should bar compelled genetic testing in subsequent civil forums.
The top court rejected that barrier, reasoning that the standard of proof and purposes of criminal and civil proceedings differ. A criminal acquittal does not necessarily foreclose judicial inquiry into parentage when a child’s welfare or legal rights depend on establishing biological linkage.
DNA testing has become a standard forensic tool in family courts, but its admissibility remains contested when prior criminal cases produced conflicting outcomes. The ruling gives family courts clearer authority to direct tests despite earlier acquittals in parallel criminal matters.
Women’s rights advocates and child welfare groups have long pressed for easier access to paternity determination in maintenance cases. The decision may accelerate resolutions in disputes where respondents invoke criminal acquittals to resist genetic evidence.
Family courts frequently confront situations where criminal and civil proceedings run on parallel tracks with different parties and burdens of proof. The judgment gives judges explicit backing to order genetic testing when paternity remains genuinely in dispute despite an earlier criminal acquittal of the alleged father.
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Sources:
https://supremetoday.ai/