A SHARIA court has used DNA testing to successfully prove the paternity of a man whose baby was born out of wedlock.
Four years after the baby’s birth, the Supreme Jaffari Appeals Court finally granted the 23-year-old appellant full fatherhood of the child and allowed a passport to be issued for the son for the first time.
Even though the baby’s parents got married five days after he was born in December 2018, they could not obtain a passport for the young boy because he was born before the date of the marriage.
Lawyers Zaheda Alsayed Ahmed and Mariam Al Shaikh raised a suit in Sharia court, demanding to grant full fatherhood to the man and to allow the child to take his name.
They sued the Public Health Directorate, the Nationality, Passport and Residence Affairs (NPRA), the Information and e-Government Authority (iGA) and the State Cases Authority.
Even though the Bahraini parents are currently in a stable, married relationship, the appellant’s 23-year-old wife was also listed as one of the defendants as a legal formality.
The parents were both 18 when the baby boy was born at Salmaniya Medical Complex.
“There was no marriage contract between the parents at the time of birth,” Ms Ahmed told the GDN.
“In such cases, the parents are referred to the Public Prosecution, where the father declared the son as his own.
“Because of that, he received a document confirming that the son is his. The man also wrote his name as the father on the birth notification form, and he was able to obtain a birth certificate for the child.
“However, since the child was born out of wedlock, he could not be issued a passport.”
Last year, the two lawyers requested the High Jaffari Sharia Court to conduct a genetic test to confirm the paternal relationship between the father and son.
In October, however, the court rejected the demand because the boy was born illegitimately, so the parents jointly appealed the decision at the Supreme Jaffari Sharia Court.
A representative of the Health Ministry, NPRA, iGA and the State Cases Authority submitted a statement asking judges to reject the appeal and uphold the verdict.
Nevertheless, judges ordered the Public Prosecution’s Forensic Science Directorate to conduct the DNA test in January.
“The lab report stated that the appellant is the child’s biological father, based on a test carried out following international guidelines and best practices,” read the verdict document.
The verdict also referenced several Sharia laws regarding illegitimate children, stating that the boy is entitled to take his father’s name, and that the father is responsible for his well-being and financial needs.
“An illegitimate child has all the rights that a legitimate child does – he is the father’s child in reality, practice, language and in Sharia, and is a child of his parents in both conception and biology.
“The only right not granted to a child born of adultery is that he cannot inherit from the parents, and the parents cannot inherit from him.”
The final ruling stated that despite being conceived before marriage, no one other than the appellant claimed to be the father of the child, and he is already listed as the father on all of the child’s paperwork.
“The child’s parenthood has been proven with absolute certainty.
“There is no doubt, suspicion or mystery in the matter since his biological fingerprint matches that of his father’s, and since the mother was the one who gave birth to him.
“Because both parents agreed and legally declared the boy as their own, he now has all the rights of that a child of a legally wedded couple has.”
Based on this, the court gave the appellant full fatherhood of the child, and ruled that the boy must take the father’s patronymic and surname, but barred the child from receiving inheritance from either of his parents.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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