Section 497 - Supreme Court judgement on Adultery Law ( Laws and Problem )

In Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, the adulterer enacted law, which the Supreme Court's decision had abolished three previous decisions that kept the law up.

The Supreme Court's verdict today attacked the Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, in which three previous decisions with adultery were reversed, which states that the adultery law was constitutional.

The five judicial benches included Chief Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice R. F. Nariman, AM Khanvilkar, DC Chandchud and Indu Malhotra.


According to Section 497,

What is the law of adultery?

Section 497 states that if a married woman has sexual intercourse without the consent of a person's husband, then she is punishable by law. A man can be imprisoned for five years or more and even fines can be imposed.

What is adultery?

According to the dictionary, adultery means "voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and the person who is not his / her spouse".

What does the petitioner want in connection with adultery law?

There are problems with Section 497 which the petitioner wants to address:

• The petitioner wants the adulteration law to be gender neutral. That's because law requires a man to be punished for adultery, but no action is taken for the woman.
• According to Section 497, the woman whose husband has sex with another woman can not file a complaint because the law does not make such a provision for her.
• Apart from this, the adultery law in the IPC reduces women to one thing, because there is no consensus on the married woman to have sexual intercourse with a person. According to Section 497, if the woman's husband agrees, then this act is not a crime. This is the reason that many people have called this law an anti-women law

What did the Supreme Court say?

• The judges said Section 497 of the Archaic and said that they violated Articles 14 and 21 of the IPC.
• "There may be expenditure for civil issues, including dissolution of marriage, but it can not be a criminal offense." said by justice.
• The Bench said that Section 497 was 'unconstitutional' because it violated the right to equality and now there was no reason to continue.
• However, the Supreme Court said that ground for divorce and divorce will continue
• Justice D.V. Chandrakood said that Section 497 destroys and deprives women of dignity
• "Women should be treated with equality with women, any discrimination will invite the anger of the Constitution, a woman can not be asked to think about the wishes of the society," 
• CJI Mishra himself and J. Khanvilkar Said to CJI Mishra said that husband is not the wife of.

Last Supreme Court verdict on adultery

The adultery law came to court three times in the past - in 1954, in 1985 and in 1988
In 1954, the Scheduled Castes rejected that Section 497 violated the right to equality
In 1985, it was said that there is no need to include women in law who can complain
In 1988, the Supreme Court said that fornication was the "shield" rather than the sword