Madras HC stays proceedings against Dhanush

Madurai: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday stayed the proceedings in the maintenance petition in the lower court filed by a Melur couple who claimed actor Dhanush had been born to them and sought a maintenance of Rs 65,000 per month from him.

Justice G Chockalingam also adjourned the hearing to March 9 of the petition filed by actor Dhanush to quash the case and the petition filed by the couple seeking DNA mapping of the actor.

When the final arguments in the paternity case of the actor came up at the hearing today, the advocate who appeared for the couple (R.Kathiresan and Meenakshi), sought the issuing of an order for DNA mapping of the actor to establish biological relationship. He also said an additional petition has been filed in this regard.

Countering this, the senior counsels who appeared for the actor, argued that there was no prima facie ground in this case to conduct DNA mapping.
The counsel also cited Supreme Court orders in this regard to substantiate their argument.

After listening to arguments of both the sides, Justice Chockalingam asked, “Why the couple had filed the petition asking for the DNA test on the last day of the hearing?” The judge observed that they could have filed it well in advance when the court had been hearing this case in the last month.

The court had subjected Dhanush to medical examination on Wednesday for personal verification of his birthmarks to ascertain his parentage. The medical report of the examination was also submitted to the court in a sealed cover.

Meanwhile, the couple filed another petition on Wednesday alleging that while Kathuri Raja and Vijayalakshmi (whom the actor claimed were his biological parents) belong to backward caste from Theni district, the actor’s transfer certificate mentions that he belongs to schedule caste community.

Stating that the TC submitted in the court belongs to some other person, the couple asked the court to order DNA mapping to ascertain paternity.