All Indian Children are not Equal
In a ruling that will have a major impact on the lives of millions of children in India, the Indian Supreme Court has ruled that a child born out of a live-in relationship can only claim a share of the parents acquired property and not ancestral property. This is because the child born out of wedlock is considered “illegitimate”. This ruling impacts Indians who are Hindus only (India has separate civil laws for different religious groups).
Delivering the judgment Justices B.S. Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar said “In view of the legal fiction contained in Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the illegitimate children, for all practical purposes, including succession to the properties of their parents, have to be treated as legitimate. They cannot, however, succeed to the properties of any other relation on the basis of this rule, which in its operation, is limited to the properties of the parents.” Conservative Hindus are likely to welcome this opinion.
Live in relationships and non-traditional forms of relationships are gaining acceptance among young Indians. The Indian courts for the most part have struck down centuries old English laws that banned such relationships in the last couple of years (the Indian Penal Code for the most part is the same as the Indian Penal Code created by the British in the 18th century). This ruling by the Supreme Court has shocked many because it goes against the liberal and progressive trend of the courts in recent years.
It is not fair or practical to decide whether a human being is legitimate or not based on the marriage status of the child’s parents at the time of conception. This concept puts the child and the parents, particularly the mother at a great disadvantage. This ruling not only impacts the youth of India but also many older generations of Indians. Although some might disagree relationships outside of marriage is very common in “Hindu” society. In fact studies have shown that Hindus are more likely to have more than one spouse than people who follow other religions in India.
India is a country where the black economy is larger than the white economy. It is very difficult if not impossible for the government or the courts to identify the “properties of the parents” in most cases if the parent is not cooperating with authorities. The ancestral property on the other hand is much more easily identifiable. There are not many cases in India that I know of where the court was able to identify the properties of a parent and enforce child support payments.
This verdict makes the life of the parent who has to care for the child and the child itself at a great disadvantage. I understand that the Hindu Marriage Act considers a child born out of wedlock as illegal. But is this just an issue concerning marriage or how adults behave in the privacy of their own homes alone? What about the rights of the child who is the real victim in this case?
Once the parenthood of a child is established why should his/her rights then depend on whether his parents are married? There is no place for such laws in a broadminded society like India. We are mature enough to understand that life is not perfect and that there is nothing called an “ideal” life. It is this approach to life that makes us different. Let us not find ways to keep people out. There is nothing illegitimate about a child.
Related posts:
- Indian Police Act as Marriage Counselors
- Immorality & Live-In Relationship
- Muslim Board to Dissuade Divorces Among Indian Muslims
- Time for India to Legalize Gay Marriage
- A Case For Activist Judges in India
Category: News & Government