Badri Prasad vs Dy. Director Of Consolidation And Ors
- SCC(1978) 3 SCC 527
- Neutral1978 INSC 119
- AIRAIR 1978 SC 1557
- SCR[1979] 1 SCR 1
Ratio decidendi
The rule this decision rests on
Where a man and woman have lived together as husband and wife for a long period, a strong presumption arises in favour of the validity of their marriage. Although this presumption is rebuttable, the burden of displacing it lies heavily on the person who challenges the marriage. Consequently, it is not permissible to require proof of a valid marriage by eyewitness evidence to ceremonial processes after such a long span of time has elapsed. The law presumes in favour of the legitimacy of children born to parties living in a marital relationship and disfavours the status of bastardy, and this presumption is not lightly to be displaced merely by the absence of direct evidence of the marriage ceremony.
Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.
Judgment
As delivered
ACT: Presumption in favour of valid marriage, law regarding- Law leans in favour of legitimacy-Proof by eye-witness evidence after half a century not permissible.
HEADNOTE: Dismissing the special leave petition, the Court ^ HELD: If man and woman who live as husband and wife in society are compelled to prove, after half-a-century of wedlock by eye-witness evidence that they were validly married fifty years earlier, few will succeed. ` A strong presumption arises in favour of wed-lock where the partners have lived together for a long spell as husband and wife. Although the presumption IS rebuttable, a heavy burden lies on him who seeks to deprive the relationship of its legal origin. Law leans in favour of legitimacy and frowns upon bastardy. [1 F-H]
JUDGMENT:
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Special Leave Petition (Civil) Nos. 1731 and 927 of 1978.
From the Judgment and order dated 3-11-76 of the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) in W.P. 116 of 1971 and from the Judgment and order dated 5-8-77 of the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) in Revision Application No. 29/77 respectively.
R. K. Garg, Madan Mohan and V. J. Francis for the Petitioner.
The order of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER, J.-For around 50 years, a man and a woman, as the facts in this case unfold, lived as husband and wife. An adventurist challenge to the factum of marriage between the two, by the petitioner in this special leave petition, has been negatived by the High Court. A strong presumption arises in favour of wed-lock where the partners have lived together for a long spell as husband and wife. Although the presumption is rebuttable, a heavy burden lies on him who seeks to deprive the relationship of legal origin. Law leans in favour of legitimacy and frowns upon bastardy. In this view, the contention of Shri Garg, for the petitioner, that long after the alleged marriage, evidence has not been produced to sustain its ceremonial process by examining the priest or other witnesses, deserves no consideration. If man and woman who live as husband and wife in society are compelled to prove, half a century later, by eye-witness evidence that they were validly married, few will succeed. The contention deserves to be negatived and we do so without hesitation. The special leave petitions are dismissed.
S.R. Petitions dismissed. 2
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