The single headed bench of the Kerala High Court comprising Justice K. Babu has stayed orders of various lower court directing the collection of blood samples of children of rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) survivors for DNA testing.

The Court passed the Order staying the implementation of six lower court orders of Mancheri Fast Track Sessions Court, Kattapana POCSO Special Court, Ramankari Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kollam Additional Sessions Court I, Devikulam POCSO Special Court, and Palakkad Sessions Court.

The Court passed an order on the basis of a report submitted by Advocate Parvathy Menon, the Project Coordinator of Victim Rights Centre, Kerala Legal Services Authority (KeLSA).

The said report was submitted  to the Court Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup for its consideration. Justice Alexander Thomas had thereafter accepted the petition on file, and Advocate Menon was appointed as the Amicus Curiae in the matter.

The report states that such Orders are in conflict with Regulation 48 of Adoption Regulations, 2022, which stipulates confidentiality of records to be maintained in case of adopted children by all the agencies and authorities that are involved in the same.

Further, the report emphasizes in this regard that neither Section 375 IPC which defines the offence of 'rape' nor the various criminal law amendments envisage the conduct of DNA test on the children of rape victims in order to prove the offence of rape.

"An adopted child cannot be at any point of his/her/their growth, be violated of his/her/their privacy," the report emphasizes.