Courts Must Not Allow DNA Tests as Matter of Course, Says K'taka HC

REITERATING that courts must not allow a DNA test as a matter of course when there is an apparent conflict between the right to privacy of a person not to submit himself or herself forcibly to medical examination, the Karnataka High Court said if a DNA test is eminently needed, only then is it to be allowed, strictly within the parameters of Section 112 of the Indian Evidence Act.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru

In a rare case, Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing a petition filed by a man from Shivamogga district, questioning the order dated April 5, 2025, passed by a trial court in Channarayapatna. The trial court had passed the order in a suit filed in 2016 to conduct a DNA test of the petitioner and his father to determine the blood relation and paternity, in a suit involving a property dispute, despite vehement objection by the father and his wife, who are the defendants.