Child born in a live-in relation is entitled to property: Supreme Court heralds relationship between a Man and a Woman living together like marriage

In a major landmark decision, The Supreme Court, considered children born without marriage as entitled to the property of the father. The Apex Court said that if the woman and the man have lived together for a long time, then it will be treated as marriage and the children born out of this relationship will also get the right to the property of the father.

The Court quashed the Kerala High Court's decision in which the court did not consider a young man to be a sharer in his father's property because his parents were not married. The Supreme Court said that both of them may not have been married, but both have lived together like husband and wife for a long time. In such a situation, if it is proved in the DNA test that the child belongs to both of them, then the child has full right on the property of the father.

A man from Kerala had filed a case in the High Court for not getting a share in the division of his father's property. He had said – he is not being given the share by calling him an illegitimate son. The Kerala High Court, while pronouncing the judgment, had said that the person to whom he is claiming the property, his mother was not married to him, in such a situation he cannot be considered entitled to the family property.

In 2010, the Supreme Court recognized live-in relationships. Along with this, live-in relation was also added in section 2 (f) of the Domestic Violence Act 2005. That is, the couple living in live-in can also file a report of domestic violence. For a live-in relationship, a couple has to live together like husband and wife, but there is no time limit for this.

A similar case happened with Congress leader Narayan Dutt Tiwari, who was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Congress leader Ujjwala Sharma had claimed that she and Narayan Dutt Tiwari had a relationship with whom a son Rohit Shekhar was born. He had sought Rohit's right on Tiwari's property. Narayan Dutt Tiwari had denied the relationship in court.

After a long trial, the Supreme Court ordered a DNA test. This test proved that Rohit Shekhar is the son of Narayan Dutt Tiwari. Rohit and Ujjwala were adopted by Narayan Dutt Tiwari after the order of the court.