Legitimacy of children from void marriages under Section 16 extends to succession from parents, with Article 14 challenge rejected.

A beneficial legitimacy provision creating a legal fiction must be applied according to its terms, and amended Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 was held to operate independently through its non obstante clause. The amendment removed the earlier unconstitutional distinction between children of void marriages based on the source of invalidity, and confers legitimacy on children born of void marriages whether before or after the amendment. That fiction extends only to inheritance from the parents' property, not beyond it. On that basis, children of the second marriage were treated as legitimate for succession to the father's property, and the Article 14 challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether children born of a second marriage contracted before the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and during the continuance of a prior marriage prohibited by the then applicable law, were entitled to legitimacy and succession rights under Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and whether the amended provision offended Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Analysis: The Court held that the repeal of the Madras Marumakkattayam Act, 1932 by the Kerala Joint Hindu Family System (Abolition) Act, 1975 did not revive the earlier Hindu law so as to validate a marriage that had already been void under the then operative statute. It further held that unamended Section 16 had created an unconstitutional distinction between children of void marriages depending on whether the marriage was void under Section 11 or otherwise, but the amendment to Section 16 removed that defect. By reason of the non obstante clause in Section 16(1), the provision now operates independently and confers legitimacy on children of void marriages, whether born before or after the amendment, and the legal fiction extends to inheritance only in the properties of the parents.

Conclusion: The appellants 2 to 6 were entitled to be treated as legitimate children of Raman Nair for purposes of succession to his property, and the challenge to Section 16 failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A beneficial legitimacy provision creating a legal fiction must be given full effect according to its terms, and after amendment Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 validates children of void marriages for inheritance from their parents without violating Article 14.

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