Kerala High Court recently held that a child born out a live-in relationship and acknowledged so by the mother of the child, would have to be treated as a child born to a married couple for the purposes of surrendering a child for adoption under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 [JJ Act).
If a woman living in a live-in relationship begets a child and if that mother acknowledges the father with whom she begets the son , then that son will be considered legitimate for the purpose of Juvenile Justice Act and Adoption Regulations of 2017.
This decision was given by the Bench of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Dr. Kauser Edappagath.
The Court also said that,” a woman becoming a mother in a rape or sexual assault, or accidentally, does not want to recognise or acknowledge biological father; in such circumstances, such mother has to be treated as an unmarried mother. “
The Court was hearing a petition filed by a husband-wife, who were in a live-in relationship, seeking to reclaim their child who had been surrendered for adoption by the mother alone at a time when the couple had drifted apart.
Lawcutor 