N D Tiwari Says No To DNA Test, Again

Former Andhra Pradesh Governor N D Tiwari on Wednesday refused to give his blood sample for a DNA test, stating that one can't be pressurized into giving evidence for a civil case.

The octogenarian has been stalling for more than one and a half years the DNA test for a paternity case filed against him by 31-year-old Rohit Shekhar in 2009. Rohit contends that Tiwari is his biological father, and that he was the outcome of the latter's extra-marital affair with Ujjwala Sharma, the daughter of a Congress MP.

Tiwari is known to have approached the High Court, and even the Supreme Court, seeking the quashing of the paternity case filed against him. However, the courts responded by directing him to participate in a DNA test - an order that Tiwari has been dogding with all his might.

The Delhi High Court had demanded that Tiwari give his blood sample on June 1st, and Tiwari chose to turn a deaf ear to it.

Citing national and international laws on coercing a person into providing evidence for a civil case, Tiwari's lawyer Bahar U Barqi argues that it is against the principles of justice to force the former Governor to give his blood sample.

The courts, on the other hand, continue to urge Tiwari to cooperate with the judicial system and participate in the DNA test as Rohit Shekhar would be helpless if anything happened to the former at this juncture (read if Tiwari kicks the bucket).