Just rights

The supreme court’s ruling on the property rights of illegitimate children corrects an unfair legal provision on the statute book. The ruling has held that illegitimate children have as much right to ancestral and parental property as legitimate children. The law has never recognised these rights in the past, though an earlier ruling has accepted their right to the self-acquired property of parents.

The court has gone beyond that and has given full and equal rights to such children. The ruling follows from the position that live-in relationships are legally recognised now. If such relationships are legally accepted, there is no reason why children born out of wedlock should not be considered legal heirs of their parents.

The ruling is progressive and is line with the trend in judicial thinking to expand the rights of individuals. The courts have increasingly acknowledged the changes in society and how social and personal relationships are impacted by these changes. A restricted interpretation of the legal provisions relating to ‘a null and voidable marriage’ had resulted in the denial of justice to these children.

The existence of illegitimate children is as old as society and the strong and entrenched patriarchal tradition had ensured that they were not given their right legal status. It is not the fault of a child to be born illegitimate and there is no justification for some to be lesser children than others. Illegitimacy casts a stigma on children and they have to suffer discrimination, social pressure and even ostracism in some cases. Their position is aggravated by the economic non-status of the children. It may take time for the social attitude to illegitimacy to change but the assertion of property rights by illegitimate children will make a difference.

An important fallout of the ruling is the implicit change in the idea of a legal family. By expanding the scope of the property entitlement law it has widened the notion of family and redefined it. It is no longer the entity expressed through marital relationships but made real by the actions and relationships of individuals. It is natural therefore for individual rights and obligations to be recognised as its important features.