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The Supreme Court on September 1 held that a child born of a void or voidable…

CLAT 2024 · Legal Reasoning · 7 questions

The Supreme Court on September 1 held that a child born of a void or voidable marriage can inherit the parent's share in a joint Hindu family property. A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud however clarified that such a child would not be entitled to rights in or to the property of any other person in the family. A voidable marriage is one that is made invalid by the husband or wife through a decree. A void marriage is invalid at its very inception. Chief Justice Chandrachud said the first step to the inheritance of a child from a void or voidable marriage would be to ascertain the exact share of his parent in the ancestral property. This could be done by means of conducting a "notional partition" of the ancestral property and calculating how much of the property the parent would have got immediately before his death. Once the share of the deceased parent in the property is ascertained through such a notional partition, his heirs, including his children by means of void or voidable marriage, would be entitled to their portions in the share. The Chief Justice said that Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act has statutorily conferred legitimacy to children born out of void or voidable marriages. In fact, Chief Justice Chandrachud pointed out that Section 16(3) stipulates that children from void and voidable marriages would have a right to their parents' property. The court said the intent of granting legitimacy to such children in the Hindu Marriage Act should also be reflected in the Hindu Succession Act, which governs inheritance. Children from void or voidable marriages come within the ambit of "legitimate kinship" and cannot be regarded as illegitimate by the Hindu Succession Act when it comes to inheritance. The case before the three-judge Bench was focused on an amended provision in the Hindu Marriage Act, Section 16(3). The case was referred to a larger Bench in 2011 after a Division Bench of the apex court refused to follow past precedents and championed the cause of children born out of illegitimate marriages. […] "With changing social norms of legitimacy in every society, including ours, what was illegitimate in the past may be legitimate today. The concept of legitimacy stems from social consensus, in the shaping of which various social groups play a vital role," Justice Ganguly, who authored the 2011 judgment, had observed. During the hearings on the reference, Chief Justice Chandrachud had agreed with the Division Bench's findings that children from void and voidable marriages had rights over the property, whether self-acquired or ancestral, of their parents. [Extracted with edits and revisions from "Children from void, voidable marriages entitled to parents' share in ancestral property: Supreme Court", by Krishnadas Rajagopal, The Hindu]

Question 1

Ashima and Ashok got married to each other in a traditional Hindu ceremony in Kolkata, after which they both moved to the USA, where Ashok had a job. In the USA, they had a child, whom they named Gogol. Many years later, Ashima found that Ashok was already married to Sushma before their wedding in Kolkata. Ashok and Sushma also had a child from their marriage, Arpita, who was older than Gogol by 4 years. Ashok explained to Ashima that although he had no intention of cheating on her, he had to keep his marriage to Sushma a secret since his parents would have never agreed as Sushma belonged to a different caste. Ashima is shocked to learn that her marriage to Ashok is void as per Hindu marriage laws since Ashok was already married before their wedding. She is trying to explore possibilities so that Gogol doesn't lose his inheritance from his father's side of the family. Based on your reading of the passage, what do you think is the correct position with respect to Gogol's inheritance rights?
  1. A. Gogol could claim the entirety of Ashok's share of the ancestral property.
  2. B. Gogol would inherit the entire ancestral property as the only son of Ashok.
  3. C. Gogol would inherit his share from within Ashok's share of the full ancestral property without prejudice to the inheritance of other legal heirs, including Arpita.
  4. D. Only Sushma and Arpita are the rightful legal heirs of Ashok.

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Question 2

In the above fact scenario, consider a property that was purchased by Ashok from his own earnings in the USA, thereby not making it part of ancestral property but instead falling in the category of self-acquired property. Upon Ashok's death, who would have inheritance rights over the said property?
  1. A. Sushma and Ashima.
  2. B. Sushma, Ashima, Arpita, and Gogol, as they are all his rightful legal heirs.
  3. C. Sushma, Arpita, and Gogol.
  4. D. Sushma and Arpita.

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Question 3

Based on your reading of the passage, how did the Hindu Marriage Act influence the outcome of the case on inheritance? Select one option from below:
  1. A. The amended provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act grant legitimacy to children from voidable marriages and therefore this logic should be extended to children born of voidable and void marriages under the Hindu Succession Act.
  2. B. The amended provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act give legitimacy to the second marriage and therefore this should also have an impact on the Hindu Succession Act.
  3. C. The amended provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act grant legitimate status to children from void or voidable marriages and therefore this should also extend to the Hindu Succession Act.
  4. D. The Hindu Marriage Act has no bearing on the case in question.

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Question 4

12-year-old Kausalya was married off to 23-year-old Dashrath in her maternal home in Uttar Pradesh. She completed her education after her marriage and went on to get a job as a teacher at a government school. Dashrath's family, however, was opposed to her taking up a job outside the house and insisted that she should stay at home and look after her 2 sons, Ram and Lakshman. Kausalya, however, was very excited about starting her new job and sought advice from her younger sister, Vershini, who was training to be a lawyer. Vershini advises her that since she was married before she turned 18, her marriage was voidable and she could get it annulled. Kausalya, who was not very happy in her marriage, considers this option but is worried that her sons may lose their inheritance. Select the option that denotes correctly the status of Ram and Lakshman to inherit their father's ancestral property.
  1. A. Kausalya's children cannot inherit Dashrath's ancestral property but can inherit his self-acquired property.
  2. B. Both Ram and Lakshman can inherit their father's share of the ancestral property irrespective of the voidable status of their parent's marriage.
  3. C. If Kausalya decides to annul her voidable marriage, she and her sons would lose all rights of inheriting ancestral property from Dashrath.
  4. D. Ram and Lakshman can only inherit ancestral property from their mother's side since she decided to annul the voidable marriage.

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Question 5

Ajay is married to 2 women, Diya and Riya, and both don't know of each other. He was married to Diya first, when they were both around 23 years of age and studying together in college. They have no children. He later got married to Riya in a temple, and she had no idea about his first marriage with Diya. Ajay and Riya have 2 children, Raj and Rani. One day, Riya found out about Diya from one of Ajay's college friends. She wants to divorce Ajay but finds out that her marriage to him is void since he was already married at that time. At a loss, she goes to a lawyer to find out about the rights of her children to inherit property. Which is the most legally sound advice that the lawyer could give to her?
  1. A. He would say that her children can still inherit property from Ajay thanks to the Supreme Court judgment.
  2. B. He would advise her to get her marriage registered so that they can inherit property.
  3. C. He would advise her to ignore her marriage with Ajay since it is anyway a void marriage.
  4. D. He would advise her to speak to Diya and sort it out with her so that her children can inherit property since she would have the final say.

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Question 6

In the above scenario, Riya wants to know if there is any way in which the judgment can come to her aid while inheriting property owned by Ajay. What would the correct position of law?
  1. A. No, she cannot inherit property as the judgment merely talks about the rights of children from void marriages.
  2. B. Yes, she should fight for her rights to inherit property.
  3. C. Yes, Ajay would have to give her property since he cheated on her.
  4. D. She would get an equal share of property as Diya, since they are both his wives who got married to him without knowing about each other.

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Question 7

Srimati's first marriage was void due to being within the prohibited degree of relationship. Dhanalakshmi, who is the daughter of Srimati from her first marriage confronts her mother once she finds her identity, demanding her share in her mother's ancestral property. Srimati, however, subsequently married Dhrupad and has 2 daughters with him- Ira and Shira and is not interested in giving any property to Dhanalakshmi. Dhanalakshmi decides to assert her right in a court of law. How would Dhanalakshmi's share be determined?
  1. A. Dhanalakshmi would not have any right in her mother's share of the property since the right of inheritance pertains only to father's share of property.
  2. B. Dhanalakshmi could demand a notional partition and get a share from Srimati's portion of her ancestral property.
  3. C. Being a child from a void marriage, Dhanalakshmi has no rights of inheritance.
  4. D. It is Srimati's decision as to whom she gives rights in her property.

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