497 section: Anti-women or not?
Ipseeta Das (Delhi) - “Adultery- 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 offense of rape, is guilty of the offense of adultery, and shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both. In such case, the wife shall not be punished as an abettor” – Section 497 of IPC. 158 year old ‘Section 497’ is the hot topic for any debate in the present date after the five-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Deepak Mishra, Justice D Y Chandrachud, R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkarn and Indu Malhotra on 27th September 2018. Adultery is no longer a criminal offense in India now.
Judgment – If any married couple is dealing with adultery then it’s a pure matter of privacy in front of the eyes of the law. In the case of adultery, the partner can file for divorce but the matter will no longer be criminalized. Supreme Courts state this old law unconstitutional as it treats a wife a chattel and a husband as her master. On October 10, 2017, Joseph Shine filed a petition stating section 497 as unconstitutional on the ground of discriminating men and violates Article 14, 15 and 21 of the constitution of India. From then the argument was started on December 8, 2017, when the Supreme Court agreed to examine adultery and started looking for a five-judge constitutional bench. The matter becomes worse when the Centre said SC that debunking section 497 will result in huge destroy in the marital life. The hearing was started from August 1, 2018, the next day on 2nd August, SC stated that matrimonial sanctity is a big issue but cannot be considered under penal provision as it is violating the rights of equality. On August 8, 2018, the center favored the retention of penal law on adultery and finally on September 27, 2018, SC strike down section 497 considering it as unconstitutional.
After this verdict, many questions emerged especially by the military. Who considered adultery as ‘stealing the affection of any brother officer’s wife’ which is completely irrelevant for the military. All the questions and action against the verdict is still on fire and now it looks like the Supreme Court had changed the IPC section into a special gender- equality section. A new case against adultery came in front of the country today in Chennai, A woman committed suicide on this Saturday night in MGR Nagar, Chennai, when his husband challenged her to stop him from having extramarital affair as SC describes adultery a civil connotation only. The police are now confronting the man for forcing her mind to suicide. This case raises more questions like Is this verdict anti-women or not? Is adultery deserves the only divorce?
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