KUALA LUMPUR (March 27): The Court of Appeal upheld a decision of the High Court which ruled that it is in the best interest of a child to  undergo a DNA test to determine his or her paternity. The High Court also determined that it is also within the child’s right to know his or her biological parents.

A three-judge panel led by Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera unanimously decided to uphold a 2022 decision by High Court judge Datuk Faizah Jamaludin, who ruled that the only way to determine a child’s paternity/maternity is by way of a DNA test.

The High Court case was brought by a male plaintiff who is suing a married couple (wife and husband) who had a child on June 23, 2008. The plaintiff claims that he and the wife of the married couple were having an extramarital affair during that period and only stopped their affair in 2014.

During the trial at the High Court, it was determined that the mother of the child admitted to having sexual relations with the plaintiff during the conception period of the child.

The plaintiff claimed that the wife had told him that the child she had was his. The plaintiff also said that he had given the wife RM1,000 a month for the child.

Faizah, in her decision, said: “… the serious question arises - who is the biological father of the child? Is it the second defendant? Or is it the plaintiff? It could only be either of them. The child has the right to know who her biological father is.”

She ordered a DNA test to be done, but that was put on hold as the wife and husband had filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal to overturn Faizah’s decision.

At the appeal decision via zoom on Monday, Vazeer along with fellow judges Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Datuk M Gunalan said the High Court has the inherent jurisdiction to make any order it deemed appropriate in the best interest and welfare of the child and this includes an order for the DNA test of the child.

“The right of a child to know who his or her biological parents are has been internationally recognised as a basic right of critical importance,” he said.

“The issue is dismissed and the order of the High Court affirmed,” he said in reading out his judgment with an order that the parties bear their own costs.

The judges then allowed a stay of the DNA test as ordered by the High Court and the Court of Appeal pending the disposal of the leave application at the Federal Court which the defendants’ lawyer Kiran Dhaliwal said they will file within 14 days.

Lawyer Honey Tan, who appeared for the plaintiff, did not object.

The appeal at the Federal Court, if granted, will be the final appeal for the case.

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