New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said if a man and woman “lived like husband and wife” for a long period and had children, the judiciary would presume that the two were married. A bench of Justices B S Chauhan and J Chelameswar on Monday gave the important clarification on live-in relationships on a petition filed by advocate Uday Gupta.
Gupta had questioned certain observations made by the Madras High Court (HC) while dealing with issues of live-in-relationships. Moreover, SC said children born out of prolonged live-in relationships could not be termed illegitimate.Â
Section 16 of Hindu Mariage Act provides, “Notwithstanding that a marriage is null and void under Section 11, any child of such marriage who would have been legitimate if the marriage had been valid, shall be legitimate, whether such a child is born before or after the commencement of the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act, 1976, and whether or not a decree of nullity is granted in respect of the marriage under this Act and whether or not the marriage is held to be void otherwise than on a petition under this Act.”