Judgment on legitimacy of child in case filed by uncle
· Supreme Court of Pakistan
This judgment, from the Lahore High Court in 2009, deals with a dispute over inheritance in which an uncle tried to challenge the legitimacy of his deceased brother's children in order to claim their share of property.
The court found strong evidence against the uncle's claim. He had consistently referred to his deceased brother as the father of these children in his own court filings, from the trial court all the way up. He had also raised no objection to their paternity when the inheritance mutation was first recorded in their favor. There was no proof that the children were born after their mother's divorce or that she had engaged in adultery. Notably, the uncle even offered a deal: he would accept the children as legitimate if they gave up their inheritance rights, a stance the court found hypocritical and contrary to Islamic legal principles (Fiqa).
The court applied the Sunni school's presumption that a child born six months after marriage, or within two years of its dissolution, is presumed legitimate. The uncle had also failed to use the proper Islamic legal procedure (Liyan) of swearing before a Qazi to formally disown the children as illegitimate. Since the deceased father himself never denied or disowned these children during his lifetime, the court ruled they were legitimate and entitled to inherit his estate.
This case matters because it protects children's inheritance rights against opportunistic relatives and reaffirms established legal presumptions of legitimacy.
لاہور ہائی کورٹ کا یہ فیصلہ 2009 میں وراثت کے ایک تنازعے سے متعلق ہے، جس میں ایک چچا نے اپنے مرحوم بھائی کے بچوں کی جائز اولاد ہونے کو چیلنج کرنے کی کوشش کی تاکہ ان کے جائیداد میں حصے پر قبضہ کر سکے۔
عدالت کو چچا کے دعوے کے خلاف ٹھوس شواہد ملے۔ وہ خود اپنی عدالتی درخواستوں میں، نچلی عدالت سے لے کر اوپر تک، ہمیشہ اپنے مرحوم بھائی کو ان بچوں کا باپ قرار دیتا رہا تھا۔ اس نے اس وقت بھی کوئی اعتراض نہیں کیا تھا جب وراثتی انتقال پہلی بار ان بچوں کے نام منظور ہوا تھا۔ اس بات کا کوئی ثبوت موجود نہیں تھا کہ بچے اپنی والدہ کی طلاق کے بعد پیدا ہوئے تھے یا یہ کہ والدہ نے زنا کا ارتکاب کیا تھا۔ قابلِ ذکر بات یہ ہے کہ چچا نے خود ہی یہ پیشکش کی تھی کہ اگر بچے وراثت میں اپنا حق چھوڑ دیں تو وہ انہیں جائز اولاد تسلیم کر لے گا، جسے عدالت نے منافقت اور اسلامی فقہی اصولوں کے منافی قرار دیا۔
عدالت نے سن