Paternity Legitimacy, Parentage and Acknowledgment Parentage

A school admission form in Mumbai asks for the father's name. A birth certificate asks for it. A will, a ration card, a nomination in a provident fund account all ask the same thing. Behind these boxes sits a legal question: who is a child's father in the eyes of the law, and what happens when the facts are doubtful, or when the father says, years later, "this is my son"? Muslim law answers with a presumption of legitimacy and a special doctrine called acknowledgment.

In two minutes

A child born in lawful wedlock within the legal period of gestation is presumed the legitimate child of the husband; a father may also acknowledge a child of unknown parentage, and a valid acknowledgment establishes paternity and legitimacy if its conditions are met.

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