The article has been written by Ms. Sanjana Kumari, a 2nd year student of Lloyd law college, greater Noida.

 Introduction:

Regardless of how well or poorly a child is created, their standing has remarkable consequences under all social structures on the world. There is a genuine and misguided hierarchy among children in both modern society and traditional culture. There has always been a societal stigma associated with a child who doesn’t have legally married or wedded guardians. The misguided children never took pleasure in rising to prominence with the genuine blue kids. The public consistently separated the misguided children from different angles. Not only did the public divide them, but the law has done so as well. The law has not granted the misconceived children rights that are legally distinct from those granted to the real children. All individual laws do not compare the legacy privileges of legitimate children with those of ill-conceived children. This suggests wrongness implies that a child will be seen as ill-conceived if the child’s guardians are not lawfully married. In all societal orders, having an extramarital or premarital sexual connection is considered wrong. As a result, the kids of such a toxic connection are also maintained in a state of transgression. It’s thought to be misguided. In addition, many religions view extramarital or premarital sex relationships as unfriendly. Since all Indian individual laws are based on religion, children created during such a hostile relationship are not accorded the same legal standing as children born into a lawful marriage.

OVERVIEW

There are only illegitimate parents, not illegitimate children.

ILLEGITIMACY

Children born to parents who are not married to one another are referred to as illegitimate. The status of children, whether they are born legitimate or illegitimate, has serious repercussions in all communities across the globe. There is a strong categorization of offspring as illegitimate and legitimate in both ancient and contemporary societies. What then makes a child illegitimate? A child who knows for sure who their mother is but does not know for sure who their father is considered an illegitimate child.

Who are the children deemed illegitimate?

In India, the children listed below are regarded as illegitimate:

1. Offspring conceived by partners who are not lawfully wedded.
2. Offspring born into an incestuous union.
3. Offspring of bigamous marriage at birth.
4. Offspring originating from a parent-child adulterous connection.
5. Offspring resulting from null and void marriages as per article 38 of the Family Code:
6. Offspring born to under-18-year-old partners, regardless of marriage status.
7. Offspring resulting from another null and void marriage as per Article 15.
8. WHAT KINDS OF ILLEGITIVE CHILDREN ARE THERE?

Indeed, there are two categories of illegitimate kids. They are as follows:

2. An unacknowledged illegitimate child: A child whose biological father does not recognise them must use his mother’s last name.
3. A recognized illegitimate child is one whose father has acknowledged or recognized them. He’s permitted to adopt his father’s last name.

Under Hindu law, children are illegitimate

The following four headings comprise Hindu law regarding illegitimate children:

1. Maintenance
2. Inheritance
3. Joint Family Property and Partition
4. Guardianship
5. Maintenance

An unborn child of a Hindu was eligible for maintenance from his father’s coparcenary property prior to the Hindu Selection and Maintenance Act of 1956. Without a doubt, the Hindu father will continue to raise his misconceived child during the minority. Hindu law used to offer no treatment for young girls who were conceived unnaturally. According to the Code of Criminal Procedure Code, they are eligible for support, which is finalised upon the putative father’s death and is enforceable for the duration of his life. Currently, a Hindu will surely raise his or her ill-conceived children under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956. This Act requires both the mother and the father, who are the biological parents, to provide for their illegitimate children. According to this, the illegitimate daughter and son both have the right to maintenance from their parents. The right to be preserved is limited to the time that a person is a minor. Once an illegitimate child reaches adulthood, they are not eligible for maintenance. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure Code, an illegitimate child who has ceased to be a Hindu may petition his or her father for maintenance.

Inheritance

A misguided child isn’t worthy of winning over his father. As per the Hindu Progression Act, misconceived children are believed to be linked to their mother and to one another through misconceived family relationships. A misconceived child may inherit the belongings of both his or her mother and an unconceived sister or brother. In a similar vein, a mother may also obtain the possessions of her misconceived children. In this sense, the father is not entitled to inherit his misguided children’s belongings. Following the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, a Shudra’s misconceived child is not eligible to inherit his or her father’s property.

Joint Family Property and Partition

An unborn child has little interest in the family business and is not raised as a coparcenary, so during the father’s lifetime, the unborn child’s privileges are limited to providing for himself. However, during his lifetime, the father may make a gift of property that may be equal to that of his sincere children.

Guardianship

A guardianship right belongs to a mother. Generally, the mother of an illegitimate child had the right to take custody of the child during the years of nurture, and the father had no right to do so while the son was still a minor. According to Section 6 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, a mother is the child’s natural guardian in the case of an illegitimate boy or an illegitimate unmarried girl if both of the child’s parents are Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, or Sikhs by religion. This protection extends to any child whose parents identify as any of these religious groups.

III. LEGITIMATE & ILLIGITIMATE CHILDREN IN INDIA

Children are now divided into two main categories under Indian law: legitimate children and illegitimate children. Illegitimate children are born from marriages that are void, irregular, or invalid, whereas legitimate children are born from marriages that are valid. The rights of legitimate children are unaffected by current events, but the rights of illegitimate children are fraught with difficulties. The Thrumurthi Muthamal case, in which the high court recently ruled on the rights of illegitimate children, caused some confusion. However, the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act, 1976, passed by the parliament, replaced this ruling with a new definition of illegitimate child rights. This means that all children, regardless of whether they were born into a void, valid, or voidable marriage, will be regarded as legitimate children.

1. STATUTORY LEGITIMACY

A child who is born into a legal or customary marriage is considered exceptionally real. Should a statutory true-blue child come into being, he or she is the offspring of an intermittent or null marriage. This concept of Statutory Legitimacy was developed following the implementation of Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. According to customary law, a child born to lawfully married parents is deemed legitimate as long as the child was regarded as legitimate prior to the couple’s legal separation. On the other hand, a child conceived outside of marriage is considered illegitimate, also known as bastardy. The question of the putative father’s entitlement to provide for his child and mother is also raised by illegitimacy.

1. SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE OF AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD

ANCIENT INDIA

When it comes to an unconceived child, Old India has an extremely harsh and judgmental viewpoint. The Hindu folklore contains a plethora of religious messages centered around remarkable individuals who were misconceived and lacked parental assurance. Give us a chance to tackle “The Mahabharata” case. Due to its widespread popularity, the epic bears resemblance to a mirror of society at large and provides insight into the outlook on life of Indian culture, which is predominantly Hindu.

MORDERN INDIA

Indians’ attitudes have shifted significantly, and instead of thinking in terms of religious philosophy, they now view levelheadedness as the new key that could potentially unlock the door to a glorious future for their country. The Supreme Court of our country has rendered distinct rulings in cases involving the rights of an unborn child that are grounded in both human rights and important legal precedents. In 2011, the Supreme Court of India ruled in one such case that the unborn children were eligible for an offer of both tribal property and the self-obtained property of their guardians.

LEGAL PERSPECTIVE OF ILLEGITIMATE CHILD

• 1973’s THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, SECTION 125

According to Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, a child who is misbehaving may receive support from their parents if they are unable to care for themselves, regardless of whether they are married or not. After achieving dominance, he or she may also receive maintenance in this area if, by chance, a physical or mental deviation from the norm or injury prevents them from taking care of themselves.10 This is the core area of Indian law that helps misconceived children (those unable to care for themselves) because it provides them with immediate and genuine blue support.

• The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act of 1956, Section 20

According to this section of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, a child who is legitimate or not has the right to receive support from both of their parents, provided that they are underage and unable to care for themselves. Thirteen The declaration reads as follows: “Support of children and responsible adults”:

1. A Hindu, subject to the laws of this land, is obligated, during his life, to maintain his or her pure or misguided children and his or her elderly or ailing guardians.
2. A sincere or misguided child may receive parental support as long as the child is a minor.
3. A man’s commitment to supporting a weak or mature parent or an unmarried girl extends to the extent that the guardians or the unmarried young girl, in general, are unable to support themselves out of their own income or other assets.

• The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, Section 16

Any child resulting from a substantial/general, invalid /unpredictable, void, or voidable marriage should be considered the legitimate child of that couple, as stated by this Section of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956. The fact that the marriage violated legal requirements does not alter the fact that the child was the couple’s legal child. “Legitimacy of Children of Void and Voidable Relational Unions” is the title of the proclamation:

1. Even though the marriage is declared null and void under Section 11, any child of that marriage who would have been legitimate if the marriage had been substantial should be legitimate. This holds true whether the child was conceived before or after the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act, 1976 (68 of 1976), whether a declaration of nullity is conceded in relation to that marriage under this demonstration, and whether the marriage is declared void more generally than on an appeal under this demonstration.
2. When a section 12 declaration of nullity is granted regarding a voidable marriage, any child born or taken into consideration prior to the decree’s making, who could have been the parties’ legitimate child if the decree had been revoked rather than annulled on the date of the decree, should be recognized as their real child in spite of the nullity declaration.
3. Notwithstanding anything that may be interpreted as giving any child of a marriage that is null and void or that is revoked by the announcement of nullity under Section 12 any rights in or to a man’s property, other than the guardians, in the unlikely event that, even after this demonstration, the child would not have been eligible to receive any such rights because he is not the genuine blue offspring of his parents.

CONCLUSION

Being a strong society, Indian society is undergoing change and is made up of two broad categories of people who adhere to different belief systems. One of the groups believes in the conventional methods of Hinduism, which prohibits having an ill-conceived child and views being one as an even greater shame. They believe in the virtue of life and the virtue of virtue. The other group in the general public is made up of people who are liberal and normal in their thinking and do not consider being wrong to be shameful. Additionally, laws pertaining to the general public are changed whenever necessary in response to changing circumstances. In keeping with this, we can say that Indian laws serve as a reflection of Indian society.       

REFERENCES

1.This is taken from an article by an anonymous author from a reputed newspaper of the country “The Times of India” Illegitimate kids have stake in property

2 AIR 1974 Mad 321.

3 The Indian Evidence Act, 1872. 

 4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legitimate (law)

5 Friedmann, W., Law in a changing Society, Page 210    

6. AIR 1992 SC 756.
7. (2010) 9 SCC 209. 
8. Ibid. 
9. 1987 (2) SCC 278

 10 2001 (5) SCC 311

 11 The Hindu adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 18 Ibid