Important Legal Definitions

A conclusive presumption of law establishing that any person born during the continuance of a valid marriage between their mother and any man, or within 280 days after its dissolution (the mother remaining unmarried), is the legitimate child of that man, rebuttable only by proving non-access.

In Goutam Kundu v. State of West Bengal, the Supreme Court held that courts will not routinely order DNA paternity tests to displace the strong presumption of legitimacy under Section 112 unless a strong prima facie case of non-access is established.