Kathmandu, February 3, 2006

The Supreme Court has directed conducting deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test to decide the paternity of twins born illegitimately to a woman from Lamjung district. With the order passed on Wednesday, the apex court has set a trend to decide all paternity cases by DNA testing. Gaumaya Sarki had given birth to twins in 1996 though her husband had been working in India for three years and she had not met him all this while. She filed a paternity suit in Lamjung district court claiming that her cousin, Rajendra Sarki, who was just 13 years old then, was the father of the twins. However, another person, Krishna Bahadur Gaire, claimed he was the real father of the twins as Gaumaya had intimate relations with him as well. He said he was ready to accept the twins and the mother. In 1998, the district court decided in favour of Gaire disregarding the mother’s claim as Rajendra was just 13 years of age.

However, Gaumaya moved Pokhara Appellate Court against the decision. But the appellate court upheld the district court verdict in 1999. Rajendra, who turned 18 in 2001, then moved the apex court, claiming to be the father of the twins. The case had been pending since then and came up for hearing on Wednesday when a division bench of Justices Sharada Shrestha and Top Bahadur Magar issued the order that a DNA test be conducted to decide the paternity of the twins. “This is the first time that the Supreme Court has ordered DNA test to find out paternity of the offsprings,” Rajendra’s counsel Jyoti Baniya said. “Now people have the right to ask for a court order for DNA testing,” he added.

Western Union ties up with Golchha Organisation for remittance trade

Kathmandu, February 3, 2006

Western Union (WU) has announced its tie-up with Golchha Organisation (GO) for dealing in remittances with a view to provide inbound money transfer services in Nepal. A press statement issued by the company today quoted Hemant Golchha, director of Golchha Organisation, as saying that the strategic relationships with Western Union, gives Golchha Organisation an opportunity to increase its current array of services and to serve customers better and faster. According to the World Bank’s report on Global Economics Prospects 2005, Nepal is among the top 20 countries to receive remittance. This year remittance to Nepal was $755 million that came in through legal channels and simultaneously another $700 million came through illegal means. It has been estimated that the value of remittance comes to be about 18 per cent of Nepal’s total GDP. GO started remittance service in the name of Hulas Remittances (HR) which Golchha believes would give better remittance services in Nepal.