A local court in Kollam has ordered DNA testing on a cow to settle a dispute over its ownership by two women at Punalur in the district.Based on the court order, the cow was brought to a veterinary hospital and collected blood samples on Monday to be sent to the lab for test whether it matched with that of its mother that is in possession of one of the litigants.Judicial First Class Magistrate Santhosh Das issued the order after one Geetha from a nearby village complained that her cow and its calf were held in illegal possession by one Sasilekha.Geetha held that she had let her cow to graze in the forest area but did not return. She contended that she later traced the cow at Sasilekha's premises, who refused to give it back to her.Geetha then lodged a complaint with the police but failed to get the issue resolved. She later took the matter to the court.

For want of proper evidence in the case, the court ordered that DNA test be conducted on the cow and report back whether it matches with the mother cow.The blood sample of the cow has been sent to the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnolgy at Thiruvananthapuram for testing and the report awaited soon, police sources said.