Lucknow, Nov. 15: Two-year-old Anna plays on the lap of his young mother, unaware of the storm over his paternity that has divided Muslim clerics in Uttar Pradesh.

The clerics are in the middle of a dispute whether a DNA test conducted on parents to ascertain a child?s parental identity is against the Shariat, the Islamic jurisprudence.

The differing interpretations of the Shariat have added to the woes of Najma Bano, 21, who has been abandoned by her husband over the child?s disputed paternity.

Trouble started a month after Najma married small-time trader Riasuddin in early 2002 in Etah district?s Kedarpur village, when he found she was three months pregnant.

She delivered the baby later that year but lost her husband, who alleged that he was not the father and walked out after pronouncing triple talaq.

?In Islamic law, a marriage breaks up automatically if a woman is already pregnant at the time,? Riasuddin claimed.

?Najma hid her pregnancy from me. So I have no responsibilities towards the child. As far as I know, I am not the father,? he claimed further.

Spurred by the need to restore her dignity and ensure her child?s rights, Najma did not despair for long.

She lodged a complaint with the Mufti at Etah, filed a case in the local civil court and approached the district administration for compensation from Riasuddin.

?I became pregnant during my intimacies with him before marriage. How come he is denying it now?? she said in court.

Najma?s plea with the district administration came up before the officers of ?Project Didi?, a scheme launched early this year by the district police to sort out minor family disputes with the help of social workers and officers of the local social welfare department.

?We familiarised ourselves with the couple?s case but found that the only solution to decide the paternity of the boy was to go for DNA test,? said Asfaq Ahmed, deputy director of the project and an officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police.

The DNA advice offered last week sparked the dispute among Muslim clerics.

?Shariat does not permit a couple to go for a DNA test. It is against Islam to take a scientific test. In this case, a child born in wedlock should be treated as that of the couple,? said Mohammad Shahzad Kashmi, a community leader in the district.

But another section of Muslim leaders voiced a contrary opinion.

?There is nothing in Shariat to prove that it is against any scientific test like the DNA test,? said Kalbe Sadiq, vice-president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He was, however, quick to add that the opinion was personal and not made in his capacity as a board official.

Kalbe Jawad, another senior cleric, expressed a similar view. ?I am unable to understand what law in Shariat is cited to oppose the DNA test,? he said here.

Anna?s identity, meanwhile, waits to be deciphered. Though Riasuddin has agreed to take the DNA test, Najma is being dissuaded by leaders of her community from opting for it.

Najma, who is unwilling to give up the battle for dignity, has now pinned her hopes on the court. ?I will have to wait. The case has gone to court. I will abide by any decision that comes from the court,? she said.