Supreme Court on 27.09.2018 Thursday amicable struck down Section 497 of the Indian castigating Code that makes adultery a punishable offence for men. In four separate but coincide judgments, the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court said the 158-year-old law was unconstitutional and fell foul of Article 21 (Right to life and personal liberty) and Article 14 (Right to equality).
The apex court also announce Section 198(1) and 198(2) of the CrPC, which permit a husband to bring charges against the man with whom his wife committed adultery, unconstitutional. Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, who marked the judgment in coexistence with Justice AM Khanwilkar, said while adultery could be a ground for civil issues, including division of marriage, it could not be a criminal offence.
Adultery is no more a crime, Supreme Court scraps 158-year-old law
Supreme Court verdict on adultery: The petition seeking the repeal of Section 497 IPC was filed by Joseph Shine, who termed the 158-year-old law “unjust, illegal and arbitrary and violative of citizens’ fundamental rights.
“Adultery can be ground for any civil wrong. There can’t be any social license that destroys the matrimonial home, but adultery should not be a criminal offence,” he said. Stating that a wife was not a chattel of the husband, Misra said, “Any provision of law affecting individual dignity and equality of women invites the wrath of the Constitution. It’s time to say that a husband is not the master of wife. Legal sovereignty of one sex over other sex is wrong.”
However, if any aggrieved spouse ended her life because of her partner’s adulterous relation, it could be treated as an abetment to suicide if evidence was produced, the CJI said. The CJI further said Section 497 was manifestly arbitrary and offends the dignity of women. Stating that the beauty of our Constitution was that it includes ” I, me and you”, Misra said equality was the governing principle of a system.
