Monday 14 May 2012

Constitution petition dismissed in illegitimate child case

  Citation Name  : 2007  CLC  1145     LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE
  Side Appellant : ZAHEER AHMAD
  Side Opponent : Mst. NASIMAN BIBI alias NASIM BIBI
       
        ---S. 5---Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Art. 199---Constitutional petition---Legitimacy of child ---Maintenance---Family Court as well as Appellate Court burdened the father with monthly maintenance of the minor child ---Father denied maintenance on the ground that child  was born on 7-11-2004, at a point of time when the spouse had been living in desertion since, 2-12-2003 and the child  was born after 11 months and 5 days from desertion---Validity---Father was denying maintenance to the child , disowning him as his issue and accusing mother of the child  of having given birth to an Illegitimate child ---Question of legitimacy of child  had a far reaching impact, therefore, determination of such question should not be taken lightly---Allegation by husband, or his act of disowning child  born out of wedlock, should not be given weight, without strict proof in such regard to the contrary---Paternity of child  born out of lawful wedlock, had a presumption of truth in its favour---Simple denial would not take away status of legitimacy and according to Islamic Law, "child  follows the bed"---Every presumption was made in favour of legitimacy of child  and was presumed to be an issue of his parents without any acknowledgement or affirmation of parentage on the part of father---Courts had always leaned in favour of legitimacy of a child , in absence of any cogent evidence to the contrary---No proof on record was available to support the contention of father that child  was Illegitimate ---Moreso, when father had not approached the court of competent jurisdiction for Li'an thus the child  who was born in wedlock was a legitimate child  and as such entitled to be maintained by father--Judgments and decrees passed by two Courts below were maintained---Petition was dismissed in circumstances.

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