Landmark ruling: Illegitimate child entitled to father's pension, rules Calcutta HC

Kolkata (The Uttam Hindu): The Kolkata High Court has delivered a landmark and historic ruling regarding property and inheritance. The court clarified that if a child is born from an illegitimate relationship or a second marriage without divorce, the child also has full rights to their father's pension. The High Court issued this significant ruling while hearing a family case involving a gatekeeper working for the Eastern Railway. This court decision is expected to serve as a significant precedent for future similar cases.

He left his first wife due to illness and secretly married a second time

This entire legal dispute concerns an employee of the Eastern Railway. The man's 50-year-old first wife told the court that she suffers from epileptic seizures, due to which her husband abandoned her. The woman's serious allegation was that her husband secretly married another woman without informing her and without legally divorcing her. The matter reached its peak when, after retirement on December 31, 2025, this employee removed the names of his first wife and his son from his service and pension book. In their place, he registered the names of his second wife and her 15-year-old daughter.

Railways had ordered to divide the pension equally

The first wife, expressing her pain, said that before 2012, there was a maintenance case going on between them. At that time, the court had ordered her husband to pay 1000 rupees every month for the upbringing of their son. According to the woman, since 2012, her husband has not given her a single penny and she has lived with great difficulty. After this, the woman appealed to the Eastern Railway for justice. After investigating the case, the Railway had said in its decision that second marriage is completely wrong under the Hindu Marriage Act, therefore, legally, only the first wife and the daughter born from the second marriage will get equal share of the pension.

The judge gave the final verdict and told who is the real owner

Dissatisfied with this decision by the Railways, the husband, through his lawyer, approached the High Court. The husband's lawyer argued that his first wife had divorced him and wanted the second wife's name to appear on the documents. After hearing both sides' arguments, Justice Krishna Rao stated that no valid divorce documents had been presented to the court. Therefore, the first wife is the legal rightful recipient of the pension. The judge clarified that even though the man's second marriage was completely illegal, the child born from the marriage has a full right to his father's pension. Therefore, the court ordered that the name of the second wife's 15-year-old daughter be included in the service and pension book, along with the first wife's.