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PETITIONER: BADRI PRASAD

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: DY. DIRECTOR OF CONSOLIDATION AND ORS.

DATE OF JUDGMENT01/08/1978

BENCH: KRISHNAIYER, V.R. BENCH: KRISHNAIYER, V.R. DESAI, D.A. REDDY, O. CHINNAPPA (J)

CITATION:  1978 AIR 1557            1979 SCR  (1)   1  1978 SCC  (3) 527  CITATOR INFO :  R          1989 SC1872  (4)

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.

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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