The Supreme Court denied the petition for Amrutha Sarathy who claims to be former Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa’s estranged daughter. The petition requests a DNA test to prove Sarathy’s lineage. The Apex Court asked Sarathy to approach the Karnataka High Court.
A Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta gave Amrutha the liberty to pursue an alternate remedy in law.
The writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution asks the Court to, “permit the family members of Ms. Jayalalithaa to cremate her body as per the rites, rituals and customs of Vaishnava Iyengar-Brahmin community to which Jayalalithaa and her family members belong.”
Amrutha’s petition sought urgency as these rituals need to be done one year before the date of expiry. Jayalalithaa passed away on the 5th of December 2016. The petition also suggests Jayalalithaa’s body be exhumed for the DNA test.
The petition further read, “Under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, every citizen is entitled to right to live with dignity and it includes the right to know… the petitioner wants to know her identity through her natural/biological mother.”
“The right to know one’s origins means the right to know one’s parentage, i.e., one’s biological family and ascendance and one’s conditions of birth,” the petition backed Amrutha’s claim. But Amrutha and her lawyer failed to sway the Supreme Court in their favour.
