Adultery no longer a crime: Supreme Court

In a historic landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has declared that adultery is no longer a crime while scrapping 150-year-old law under Section 497 (adultery) of the Indian Penal Code. The law punished a man for having consensual sexual relations with a married woman without her husband's consent. The judgment has been delivered by a bench of 5 judges headed by the Chief Justice of India. Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code has been struck down on grounds of being arbitrary, violating Article 14 of the Constitution of India. It has been held by the bench that adultery can be a ground for civil action including divorce but it can't be a criminal offence. The judgment was passed unanimously by the bench. Justice Nariman stated that “ Ancient notions of man being perpetrator and woman being victim no longer holds good” while holding the adultery law violative of Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution. The petition that sought the repeal of the adultery section had been filed before the Supreme Court in December 2017 on the ground that the section criminalises the offence of adultery but punishes only a man. Further, if the husband of the woman gives consent for the intercourse with another man, no offence lies. Moreover, it also doesn't give any right to the woman to prosecute her husband for adulterous relationship. In January, the case was referred to a constitution bench by CJI Deepak Mishra. Now, the bench has declared that adultery can be a ground for dissolution of marriage but will cease to be a criminal offence in order to protect the “ sanctity of marriage” .