Court declares education baron Shivajirao Jondhale as Varsha Khare’s biological father

MUMBAI: A daughter’s fight in court to determine her biological father concluded in her favour after a city civil court on Wednesday confirmed her biological parents. After DNA test reports, the court declared education baron Shivajirao Jondhale and his partner Geeta Khare as the biological parents of plaintiff Varsha Khare.

Last year, Varsha approached the city civil court seeking a declaration that she is the biological daughter of Jondhale. After she filed the plea, Jondhale’s son from his marriage, Sagar had sought to intervene and object to the proceedings. Sagar alleged that the suit was filed only to claim the property of the Jondhale family.

Sagar claimed that Varsha was born during the continuation of the marriage between Geeta and Rajesh Khare and said that all her school records mentioned her surname as Khare. Sagar claimed that Varsha had filed the suit with mala fide intention by adopting the surname of Jondhale. Sagar further pleaded that he and his brother had filed a suit against Varsha and her brother, to restrain them from using the Jondhale surname.

The city civil judge RR Bhagwat in his order on Wednesday said, “DNA test report was received from the Forensic Science Laboratory, State of Maharashtra at Kalina, the report reveals that the blood samples of the plaintiff (Varsha) and defendant No.1 (Shivajirao) and 2 (Geeta) were examined and genotype was mentioned in the table. At the end of the report, it is said that Shivajirao and Geeta are concluded to be the biological parents of Varsha.”

The court further said that “the defendants have surrendered to the decision of the court by narrating the factual aspect regarding the relation between the parties in their written statement. They have not disputed the fact of their physical relation and the birth of the plaintiff as a result of their relations.” Hence, Varsha was declared as Shivajirao’s daughter from Geeta.

During the court proceedings, Varsha’s lawyer contended that the plaintiff was interested in determining the aspect of her paternity. He further submitted that the name of Rajesh Khare in her school record was not sufficient to conclude that he was her biological father.

The civil court had rejected Sagar’s plea to allow him to intervene in Varsha’s suit observing that, “The applicant/intervener seems to be interested in opposing the claim of the plaintiff merely because the determination of the status of the plaintiff as the biological child of defendant no.1 may result into the fluctuation of his share in the properties of defendant no.1. Legal status of the plaintiff can affect her legal rights, but she can’t be prevented from prosecuting the suit proceeding for determining whether she is a biological child of the defendants or not.”