§ SECTION 116 · BSA 2023 · CHAPTER VII — BURDEN OF PROOF

Birth during marriage, conclusive proof of legitimacy

Section 116 protects legitimacy where birth occurs during a valid marriage, or within 280 days after dissolution while the mother remains unmarried. Read the statutory non-access exception alongside the carefully qualified case law on DNA testing and existing DNA reports.

How to read Section 116

Start with the statutory conditions; distinguish them from the separate judicial questions about DNA evidence.

Conditions

Birth during the valid marriage, or within the specified post-dissolution period with the mother remaining unmarried.

Statutory effect

Conclusive proof that the child is the legitimate child of that man, subject to the stated non-access exception.

DNA questions

An application to order a test and the treatment of an already accepted test report are different situations. Avoid an absolute slogan about either.

The bare Act

The section in its own words — a single sentence, with no illustration.

Section 116 · verbatim

The fact that any person was born during the continuance of a valid marriage between his mother and any man, or within two hundred and eighty days after its dissolution, the mother remaining unmarried, shall be conclusive proof that he is the legitimate child of that man, unless it can be shown that the parties to the marriage had no access to each other at any time when he could have been begotten.

In short: The statutory rule is a strong protection of legitimacy, subject to its stated conditions and non-access exception. 280 days is the statutory period after dissolution, not a statement of a universal medical maximum. The judicial treatment of DNA evidence is fact-sensitive; read the case-law note below before concluding that testing is either automatic or always excluded.

Correspondence: IEA section 112. BSA section 116 uses “legitimate child”.

Glossary

continuance of a valid marriage

The marriage legally subsists when the child is born.

280 days after dissolution

The statute’s specified post-dissolution period. Do not convert it into a medical rule about the longest possible pregnancy.

mother remaining unmarried

The mother has not remarried within the relevant post-dissolution period.

conclusive proof

The statutory effect once its conditions are met, read with the express non-access qualification and applicable judicial interpretation.

legitimacy

The legal status addressed by this section; do not collapse every issue of biological parentage into a single evidentiary slogan.

no access

No opportunity for intercourse during the period when the child could have been conceived; mere suspicion of infidelity is not equivalent.

The picture

Keep the statutory rule and the case-law qualification distinct.

The section, part by part

Tap a part — the picture-story tells it first; the word-by-word text and example follow.

The ruleConclusive — one escape

the statutory ruleConditions, effect and non-access

In one lineBirth meeting the statutory conditions establishes legitimacy subject to the express non-access exception. Read the separate case-law note on DNA evidence.

The fact that any person was born during the continuance of a valid marriage between his mother and any man, or within two hundred and eighty days after its dissolution, the mother remaining unmarried,MeaningThe marriage must be valid; apply the stated birth timing and, after dissolution, the mother’s unmarried status.

shall be conclusive proof that he is the legitimate child of that man,MeaningThe section gives the stated fact conclusive legal effect, subject to its qualification and the applicable judicial interpretation.

unless it can be shown that the parties to the marriage had no access to each other at any time when he could have been begotten.MeaningThe statutory qualification concerns lack of access during the possible period of conception.

Teaching exampleA child is born during a valid marriage. Another person’s unsupported assertion of biological parentage does not by itself displace the statutory protection. Identify the evidence, the non-access issue and the precise relief being sought.

Reading boundaryDo not state that every DNA result must be ignored. The case-law note distinguishes the circumstances in which testing is sought from the treatment of an accepted report already on record.

reading with case lawDNA testing and an existing report

In one lineDo not equate an application for a DNA test with the judicial treatment of an existing, accepted report.

Teaching exampleA birth occurs within 280 days after dissolution, with the mother remaining unmarried. Apply the statutory conditions and qualification. The number is a legal time period, not a medical conclusion about that individual pregnancy.

Reading boundaryDo not replace that overstatement with its opposite: DNA does not automatically defeat legitimacy. Nor does mere separation or suspicion establish non-access.

Connected provisions

§ 115 · back

IEA 1872, § 112

Carried forward — birth in wedlock as conclusive proof of legitimacy.

Sources and reading note

In Nikhat Parveen @ Khusboo Khatoon v. Rafique @ Shillu, 2026 INSC 399 (21 April 2026), paragraphs 7–10, the Supreme Court distinguished testing-stage cases and acted on a consensual, undisputed DNA report that had attained finality. Its fact-specific reasoning does not authorise routine testing. Compare the statutory wording in BSA section 116.

Explanatory corrections reviewed on 24 September 2026. Statutory quotation and commentary are kept separate.

Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 — Section 116: Birth during marriage, conclusive proof of legitimacy