NEW DELHI, Apr 22: Bringing the curtain down on the over six-year long paternity row, the Delhi High Court today held that N D Tiwari is the biological father of 32-year-old Rohit Shekhar and restrained the veteran Congress leader from disowning this in public.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw considered the DNA test result that had held 89-year-old Tiwari as biological father of Rohit on July 27, 2012 and various news reports, based on a press conference held on March 3 this year, in which the leader had admitted that the youth is his son.
“The court is of the opinion that the plaintiff has made out a case…The court issues a decree declaring the plaintiff as the natural born son of defendant 1 (Tiwari) and 2 (Ujjwala Sharma),” Justice Endlaw said.
The court also observed that since Bahar-U-Barqi, the lawyer for Tiwari, had not appeared despite being intimated by the counsel for Rohit and Ujjwala, it seemed “the defendant 1 (Tiwari) is not interested in opposing the reliefs claimed by Plaintiff (Rohit).”
It also injuncted Tiwari from denying in public that Rohit is his natural born son.
“I laud the judgement passed by the Delhi High Court. It would reverberate in courts across the country. It is a big day for us,” Rohit said after pronouncement of the order.
Rohit had in 2007 filed the paternity suit claiming the veteran Congress leader and 67-year-old Ujjwala Sharma be declared as his biological parents.
Yesterday, Rohit had submitted before the court copies of recent news reports in which the Congress veteran had reportedly admitted that he was his son.
Advocates Vedant Varma and Vibhor Kush, appearing for Rohit, had cited a legal provision before the court, saying the law empowers a court to pass a decree on the ground of the admissions made by a defendant.
Varma had submitted copies of four news reports, published in English dailies on March 4 this year, to the court and said that Tiwari has accepted before the media that Rohit is his son and it was a crucial evidence for passing of a decree.
Earlier, the court had rejected the plea of Tiwari that he be allowed to “explore” the possibilities of an “amicable” out-of-court settlement of the 2008 paternity suit, saying that the other parties were not agreeable to the proposal.
However, the counsel for Tiwari had reiterated that he was still willing to go for mediation.
The court had also closed the right of Tiwari to lead evidence as he failed to appear and testify in the case.
The court had on July 27, 2012 read out that the DNA report in the case according to which Tiwari was shown as Rohit’s biological father.
Tiwari had given blood sample for the DNA test on May 29 last year at his residence in Dehradun following the apex court’s order in the case, after repeatedly contesting against undergoing the test on various grounds. (PTI)
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