Father cannot skip to pay the maintenance of a child in any way. It is the liability of a father to pay his children till they reach the age of majority. This very principle is discussed in the judgment below where a father alleges his wife to have given birth to an illegitimate child. The child was born after 11 months from the time when husband and wife were living separately. In Islamic law a child is legitimate even if he is born after two years of intercourse between husband and wife. On the same grounds the High Court of Lahore decided the Writ Petition of Husband filed against his wife and the order of maintenance was maintained..
LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE
Citation Name : 2007 CLC 1145
Side Appellant : ZAHEER AHMAD Side Opponent : Mst. NASIMAN BIBI alias NASIM BIBI
---S. 5---Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Art. 199---Constitutional petition---Legitimacy of child ---Maintenance---Family Court as well as Appellate Court burdened the father with monthly maintenance of the minor child ---Father denied maintenance on the ground that child was born on 7-11-2004, at a point of time when the spouse had been living in desertion since, 2-12-2003 and the child was born after 11 months and 5 days from desertion---Validity---Father was denying maintenance to the child , disowning him as his issue and accusing mother of the child of having given birth to an Illegitimate child ---Question of legitimacy of child had a far reaching impact, therefore, determination of such question should not be taken lightly---Allegation by husband, or his act of disowning child born out of wedlock, should not be given weight, without strict proof in such regard to the contrary---Paternity of child born out of lawful wedlock, had a presumption of truth in its favour---Simple denial would not take away status of legitimacy and according to Islamic Law, "child follows the bed"---Every presumption was made in favour of legitimacy of child and was presumed to be an issue of his parents without any acknowledgement or affirmation of parentage on the part of father---Courts had always leaned in favour of legitimacy of a child , in absence of any cogent evidence to the contrary---No proof on record was available to support the contention of father that child was Illegitimate ---Moreso, when father had not approached the court of competent jurisdiction for Li'an thus the child who was born in wedlock was a legitimate child and as such entitled to be maintained by father--Judgments and decrees passed by two Courts below were maintained---Petition was dismissed in circumstances.
