Supreme Court: Husband Remains Legal Father of Child Born During Marriage, Even if Wife Alleges Adultery
The Supreme Court has ruled that when a marriage is legally valid and the spouses had access to each other, the husband will be presumed to be the legal father of a child born during that marriage. This presumption stands even if the wife claims the child was born out of her adulterous relationship with another man.
The case involved an appeal by a man accused of fathering a child with a married woman. The woman was married when the child was born in 2001 but alleged that the appellant was the biological father. After her divorce in 2006, she asked the Cochin Municipal Corporation to list the appellant as the child’s father, but her request was denied.
She later filed a suit in 2007 before a munsiff court, which was dismissed, as was her appeal before the Kerala High Court in 2011. Both courts emphasized that the marriage with her husband was subsisting at the time of the child’s birth and also declined to order a DNA test.
In 2015, the child approached the family court seeking maintenance from the alleged biological father. The family court allowed the request for a DNA test, ruling that maintenance issues involved paternity, not legitimacy. The Kerala High Court supported this view, holding that legitimacy did not prevent an inquiry into paternity for maintenance purposes.
The matter eventually reached the Supreme Court, where Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan overturned the earlier rulings. Referring to Section 112 of the Indian Evidence Act, the bench reaffirmed the principle of presumption of legitimacy. The Court clarified that the burden lies on the party alleging illegitimacy to prove that the husband had no access to his wife at the relevant time.
The Court also stressed that forcing a DNA test in such cases would violate the privacy and dignity of the man alleged to be the paramour. It highlighted that legal systems in the United States, United Kingdom, and Malaysia also strongly protect the presumption of legitimacy of children born during marriage.
Thus, the Supreme Court held that the husband would remain the child’s legal father, regardless of the wife’s adultery claims.
Case Title: Ivan Rathinam vs. Milan Joseph
Be a part our social media community:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndianMan.in?mibextid=ZbWKwL
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/indianman.in?igsh=MWZ2N3N0ZmpwM3l3cw==
