According to the doctor, the DNA test was unecessary and illegal as it would only cause stigma to the child born through the woman who was a surrogate mother.
The case has all the ingredients of a Bollywood thriller involving a doctor in the alleged rape of his hospital nurse, blackmail, artificial insemination and surrogacy claims and the Supreme Court stepped in to unravel the jigsaw puzzle.
A bench of Justices DK Jain and PS Thakur, on its part stayed the direction of the chief judicial magistrate, Ghaziabad, for a DNA test on Dr Pradeep Gupta, owner of a promiment nursing home and his son to establish the paternity claim of the victim.
The apex court stayed the DNA test on Dr Gupta's petition through counsel A Banerjee in which he claimed that the nurse, already married twice, had falsely implicated him in a case of rape after becoming a surrogate mother through his sperm which were actually obtained for another person.
According to the doctor, the DNA test was unecessary and illegal as it would only cause stigma to the child born through the woman who was a surrogate mother for one Dilawar Singh.
He claimed that he had voluntarily donated his sperm to Dilawar Singh to enable him have a surrogate child through the nurse who was working in his hospital. But the nurse, he alleged, in connivance with certain anti-social elements had filed rape cases against him to blackmail and extract money.
The nurse on her part filed a case with the Sahibabad police, Ghaziabad, against Dr Gupta accusing him of rape and trying to abort their son with the help of his legally wedded wife Dr Seema, also a doctor.
The nurse had lodged cases under Section 376D (rape in a hospital) and 313 (causing miscarriage) against him on August 20, 2007. The police filed a final report virtually exonerating the doctor of the charge.
However, the SSP Ghaziabad directed conduct of a DNA test te determine the parentage of the child after the nurse moved a complaint case before the judicial magistrate.
Aggrieved, Dr Gupta moved the Allahabad high court seeking stay on the DNA test and also cited a purported complaint of Dilawar Singh in the CJM court, Ghaziabad, accusing the nurse of cheating him by refusing to hand over the surrogate child after striking a deal for Rs one lakh.
The high court dismissed Dr Gupta'a plea following which he appealed in the apex court.
In his appeal, Dr Gupta has claimed no DNA test can be conducted against him or the alleged illegitimate son. He cited a purported Supreme Court judgement in the Goutam Kundu vs State of West Bengal (1993), in which he claimed it was ruled that "DNA test cannot be done for determination of paternity of the child as it may make the future of the child dark."
The apex court, after staying the DNA test, issued a notice to the UP government to file its response.
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