Evidence Act · Chapter VII · Of the burden of proof
Evidence Act section 112, “Birth during marriage, conclusive proof of legitimacy”, is now BSA section 116 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.
Now BSA section 116, with the same rule; it speaks of the legitimacy of a “child” (IEA: “son”).
Indian Evidence Act, 1872
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 son 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.
Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023
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.
The texts are India Code’s. The amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed. The PDFs linked below carry the full history.
The BSA repealed the Indian Evidence Act from 1 July 2024 (section 170(1)). Any application, trial, inquiry, investigation, proceeding or appeal pending immediately before that date is dealt with under the Evidence Act as it then stood, as if the BSA had not come into force (section 170(2)).
