Badri Prasad v. Deputy Director of Consolidation
Supreme Court of India, 1 August 1978, 3 judges, 1978 AIR 1557; 1979 SCR (1) 1; 1978 SCC (3) 527
Where a man and a woman have lived together as husband and wife for about fifty years, a strong presumption of a valid marriage arises, and the person disputing it carries a heavy burden to rebut it.
Facts
A man and a woman had lived as husband and wife for around fifty years. The petitioner challenged the fact of their marriage, and the challenge was rejected by the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) in a writ petition and a revision. Before the Supreme Court the petitioner argued that no evidence of the ceremonies of the marriage had been produced, for example by examining the priest or other witnesses. The petitioner sought special leave to appeal against the High Court's orders.
Questions before the Court
- Can a marriage between partners who have lived together as husband and wife for about fifty years be disbelieved because no eye-witness evidence of the marriage ceremonies is produced?
What the Court held
- A strong presumption in favour of wedlock arises where the partners have lived together for a long spell as husband and wife.
- The presumption is rebuttable, but a heavy burden lies on the person who seeks to deprive the relationship of its legal origin. Law leans in favour of legitimacy and frowns upon bastardy.
- The argument that the marriage was not proved because the priest or other witnesses to the ceremony were not examined deserved no consideration. Few couples could prove by eye-witness evidence, half a century later, that they were validly married. The special leave petitions were dismissed.
Why it matters
The order states the presumption of marriage arising from long cohabitation as husband and wife, and places a heavy burden on the person who disputes such a marriage. It holds that proof of the ceremonies by eye-witnesses cannot be demanded decades after the marriage, and that the law leans in favour of legitimacy.
In the Court's words
Copied from the official judgment; each passage links to its page.
“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 legal origin. Law leans in favour of legitimacy and frowns upon bastardy.”
“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.”
Case and bench
- Parties
- Badri Prasad v. Dy. Director of Consolidation
- Case
- Special Leave Petition (Civil) Nos. 1731 and 927 of 1978
- Decided
- 1 August 1978
- Bench
- V.R. Krishna Iyer, D.A. Desai, O. Chinnappa Reddy
- Opinions
- Unanimous. The order of the Court was delivered by Krishna Iyer, J.
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