All India Bar Examination (AIBE) 4-IV Previous Year Question Papers with Answers

A child born of a void and voidable marriage under Hindu law is considered legitimate.

Here's an explanation:

1. Void Marriage: A void marriage is one that is considered invalid from the very beginning, as if it never existed in the eyes of the law. Common reasons for a marriage to be void under Hindu law include bigamy (one of the spouses is already married), prohibited degrees of relationship, or if the parties are not of marriageable age. In such cases, any child born as a result of this marriage is still considered legitimate because the marriage is considered null and void from its inception.

2. Voidable Marriage: A voidable marriage, on the other hand, is a marriage that is valid unless one of the parties chooses to annul it. Reasons for a marriage being voidable might include fraud, impotence, or if one of the parties was incapable of giving valid consent. If the marriage is annulled, it is treated as if it never existed, but until it is annulled, any child born of such a marriage is still considered legitimate.

In both cases (void and voidable marriages), the child is not considered illegitimate or illegal. The child's legitimacy is not affected by the void or voidable nature of the marriage of their parents. Legitimacy primarily depends on whether the child is born to legally wedded parents or not, and in both these scenarios, the parents were legally married at the time of the child's birth.