PASSIONS OF THE HEART

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the adultery law, pertaining to Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 198 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), as unconstitutional through a unanimous judgement.

The colonial-era law criminalising adultery denudes women of their “sexual autonomy” and treats them as a “chattel” and “property” of their husbands, the Supreme Court ruled while holding the provision as unconstitutional. Adultery was not being treated as a crime in several countries and it would be a “retrograde step” to retain it in the IPC, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said on Thursday.

The CJI, who wrote a separate but concurring judgement for himself and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, said treating adultery as an offence would lead to punishing people who are already unhappy in their married life. The judge said that adultery stood on a different footing from other crimes connected to marital life, like dowry demand, domestic violence or nongrant of maintenance, as there was no third party involvement in these.

“It stands in contradistinction to the demand for dowry, domestic violence, sending someone to jail for non-grant of maintenance or filing a complaint for second marriage. Adultery stands on a different footing from the aforesaid offences,” said the judgement, penned by CJI and endorsed by the other four members of the five-judge Constitution bench.

Adultery as a crime was “no more prevalent” in People’s Republic of China, Japan, Australia, Brazil and many western European countries. The bench said treating adultery as an offence would lead to punishing people who are unhappy in marital relationships.

It said any law that would make adultery a crime would have to punish both the persons whose marriages have been broken down.