Children born to a Hindu father and a Muslim mother in India are legally barred from inheriting any property from their parents.
A structural double exclusion exists because neither the Hindu nor the Muslim personal law systems recognize these children as legitimate heirs. This legal vacuum strips individuals of their paternal rights without a specific law ever being passed against them. Most people assume that some form of default law always steps in to protect a child's inheritance. This situation reveals a black hole where the collision of two religious legal frameworks leaves a person with nothing. India requires a religion-neutral framework to ensure that children are not punished for the identities of their parents.
Double Exclusion: Inheritance Rights of Non-Marital Children of Hindu-Muslim parentage in India and the Case for a Religion-Neutral Framework
SSRN · 6709018
Non-marital children born of a Hindu father and Muslim mother occupy a position of complete legal vulnerability in Indian inheritance law by being excluded not by any explicit statutory prohibition but by incompatibility of two personal law systems operating simultaneously. This paper identifies and examines this phenomenon as a structural double exclusion. Under Hindu personal law, legitimacy is conferred only upon a children born from void or voidable Hindu marriages, a protection that presupp