Full Text: Supreme Court Verdict Decriminalising Adultery
The bench held that adultery can be treated as civil wrong for dissolution of marriage. Justice Chandrachud said Section 497 destroys and deprives women of dignity and is destructive of women's dignity, self-respect as it treats women as "chattel of husbands".
New Delhi, September 27: In a landmark judgment, a five-judge Supreme Court bench on Thursday scrapped the 150-year old law and announced that adultery is not a crime and struck down the anti-adultery law, saying it was unconstitutional. The Court said it dented the individuality of women and treated them as "chattel of husbands". The bench unanimously struck down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code dealing with the offence of adultery and holding it as manifestly arbitrary, an archaic law which is violative of the rights to equality and equal opportunity to women. Read the Full-Text SC Verdict on Adultery.
The bench held that adultery can be treated as civil wrong for dissolution of marriage. Justice Chandrachud said Section 497 destroys and deprives women of dignity and is destructive of women's dignity, self-respect as it treats women as "chattel of husbands". The verdict decriminalising adultery was widely welcomed with several lawyers and activists saying it was an antiquated colonial-era law that treated women as properties of their husbands. Adultery Law: Centre Opposes Plea in Supreme Court That Seeks to Make Men And Women Equally Liable Under Section 497.
Justice Malhotra, the only woman judge on the bench, said Section 497 is clear violation of fundamental rights granted in the Constitution and there is no justification for the continuation of the provision. Meanwhile, Justice Nariman termed Section 497 as archaic law and concurred with the CJI and Justice Khanwilkar, saying that the penal provision is violative of the rights to equality and equal opportunity to women.
Adultery was punishable by a maximum five years in jail or fine or both. The Section 497 of the 158-year-old IPC says, "Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery."
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 27, 2018 03:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).