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Now I deal with Mahendra Manilal Nanavali v. Sushila Mahwendra Nanawti A.I.R. 1965 S.C. 364 on which considerable reliance was placed by the learned Counsel for the husband. In that case, the question for determination as whether the normal child born after normal delivery, 171 days after first coitus between the wife and husband could normally be said to be the child not of the husband As per majority, it was held that the child was not a child born after 171 days gestation and was not a normal child of the husband unless there is evidence which would justify the court in holding otherwise Their Lordships took note of the provisions of Sections 112 and 114 of the Evidence Act. In para 179, after considering conflicting evidence of the doctors and other circumstances, it was held that it was not possible to accept the wife's case of the conception having taken place from and after the first coitus with the husband and that the fact that a child was born during the continuance of a valid marriage between the parties could not be taken to be conclusive proof of delivery of a legitimate son. It was also found that the husband that no access to the wife at the relevant time The judgment in Mahendra's case A.I.R. 1965 S.C. 364, was rendered in the peculiar facts and circumstances and I may point but that it has no application to the facts of the case in hand. After considering various decisions of the Supreme Court, it was observed in Sachindranath Chatterjee v. Smt Milima Chatterjee A.I.R. 1970 Cal. 38.

The learned author has further stated,-

...the circumstances taking into consideration in estimating the duration of pregnancy are the date of conception from a single coitus and the arrest of menstruation. But neither of this is reliable; a single coitus does not fix the date of conception, but merely the date of insemination.

In Mahendra Manilal's case A.I.R. 1965 S.C. 364, it is mentioned that in that case, it was not disputed that the usual period of gestation from the date of the first coitus is between 265 and 270 days & the delivery is expected in about 280 days from the date of the menstruation prior to a woman conceiving a child.