Hindu Marriage Act, Section 16(3)
This provision deals with the inheritance rights of children from void or voidable marriages.
Supreme Court Judgement
Recently The Supreme Court reserved its judgment on whether children born out of invalid/void and voidable Hindu marriages can inherit their parents’ ancestral property.
A void marriage is not enforceable in law or is unlawful.
In their 2011 judgment in the Revanasidappa vs Mallikarjun case, SC said:
“The birth of a child in such a relationship has to be viewed independently of the relationship of the parents. A child born in such a relationship is innocent and is entitled to all the rights which are given to other children born in valid marriage. This is the crux of the amendment in Section 16(3).”
The Division Bench had held that such children would have a right to any property that belonged to their parents, whether they were self-acquired or ancestral.
The Bench had however clarified that the children’s claims would be limited to the property of their parents and no other relation.
COMMENTS