Woman claiming to be Jayalalithaa’s daughter asks for DNA test; SC rejects plea

A view of the Supreme Court of India.

A view of the Supreme Court of India. | Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

A Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta, however, allowed the woman the liberty to pursue other remedies in law.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain the writ petition of a woman, claiming to be the biological daughter of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, for a DNA test to ascertain her parentage.

A Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta, however, allowed the woman, identified as Amrutha and represented by Indira Jaising, the liberty to pursue other remedies in law.

The petition under Article 32 of the Constiution asked the court to “permit the family members of Ms. Jayalalitha to cremate her body as per the rites, rituals and customs of Vaishnava Iyengar-Brahmin community to which Jayalalitha and her family members belong.”

The petition sought urgency because these rituals have to be done before the expiry of one year from Jayalalithaa’s death on December 5. The petition also sought a direction to exhume Jayalalithaa’s body to conduct the DNA test.

“Under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, every citizen is entitled to right to live with dignity and it includes the right to know... the petitioner wants to know her identity through her natural/biological mother,” the petition said.

She referred to a Supreme Court judgment in the N.D. Tiwari case that “every adoptee has the right to know his/her identity and the right to receive information relating to his/her birth, if it is in his/her best interest.”

“The right to know one’s origins means the right to know one’s parentage, i.e. one’s biological family and ascendance and one’s conditions of birth,” the petition said. Arguing for her, Ms. Jaising said the petitioner, who claims to have been born in 1980, has “fond memories” of Jayalalithaa.

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