DIMPLE GUPTA Vs. RAJIV GUPTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave arises out of the following facts.

(2.) The appellant herein, Dimple Gupta, filed an application under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure through her mother Narain Dassi claiming maintenance at Rs. 500/- per month from the respondent Rajiv Gupta alleging that he was her father as she had been born out of a relationship between him and her mother. It was alleged in the application that she was living with her mother at village Nogali Tehsil Rampur, Himachal Pradesh at the time of the filing of the petition and that she had been conceived out of wedlock when her mother was a student in the Xth Class in the Government High School at village Nogali. It was further alleged that when the respondent got to know that Narain Dassi had conceived she had been taken by him to Chandigarh in order to get the fetus aborted but the Doctor advised that as the pregnancy was at an advanced stage it was not possible to undergo the procedure. It was further alleged that the respondent had then abandoned her mother whereafter she was born on 8.7.1991 at village Kalpa.

(3.) The Trial Magistrate after recording evidence and in the course of an elaborate judgment held that the appellant was indeed the illegitimate child of Rajiv Gupta born from Narain Dassi. For arriving at this conclusion the Magistrate relied on the ocular evidence of Narain Dassi PW1, Smt. Kanchuk Doma PW2, Smt. Chandra Devi PW3 and PW4 Bhag Rath Pradhan of village Kalpa who proved an abstract (Ex.PW-4/A) of the Birth and Death Register showing Rajiv Gupta as the father of Dimple Gupta, and PW5 Devender Singh a Teacher who proved the admission forms filled in at the time of the appellant's admission in school on 3.9.1996 showing her caste to be Gupta. The attempt of the respondent on the other hand to show that Narain Dassi was a woman of loose character and had been available to several other male companions was sought to be proved by the evidence of RW-3 Hem Raj, the Manager of Gopal Guest House at Rampur who brought the record showing that a girl under the name of Kavita would often entertain guests in the Guest House and that Kavita was in fact Narain Dassi as he knew her personally.