•
I
BADRI PRASAD
v.
DY. DIRECTOR OF CONSOLIDATION AND ORS.
August !st, 1978
lV. R. KRISHNA IYER, D. A. DESAI AND 0. CHINNAPPA RUDDY, JJ.J
Presumption in favour of valid marriage, law
rega,rding-Law
leans
in
favour of legitin1acy-Proof by eye-witness evidence after half a century
not
permissible.
Dismissing the special leave petition, the Court
A
B
HELD : If man and Vi'oman who live as husband and wife in society are
compelled to prove, after half-a-century of wedlock by eye-witness
evidence
that they Vi'ere validly married fifty years eariler, feVi' will succeed. A
strong
C
presumption arises in favour of wed-lock
where the
partners
have
lived
together for a Jong 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.
[l F-H]
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 thi~ 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. Althongh the
presumption is rebuttable, a heavy burden lies on him who seeks to
deprive the relationship of legal origin.
Law leans in favour of legiti-
macy 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 wi.ll succeed. The contention deserves to be negatived and
we do so without hesitation. The special leave petitions are dismissed.
S.R.
Petitions dismissed.
D
E
F
G
H
Lex