Adultery still an offence under law: HC
MUMBAI: Men whose wives have relationships with other men can go ahead and file a criminal complaint against the 'other man'. The Bombay high court on Monday dismissed a petition that sought the deletion of offence of adultery from Indian law.
A bench of Justices B H Marlapalle and U D Salvi upheld the Constitutional validity of provision of Section 497 of Indian Penal Code, which makes adultery punishable. The petition was filed by a Worli businessman against whom a complaint of adultery was filed last year. His counsel Nitin Pradhan argued that making adultery punishable was a violation of a person's fundamental rights like the right to life, right to privacy and the right to have sexual relationships with a person of one's choice in a changing society where there was greater acceptance of consensual relationships.
The offence originated because the woman is treated as the husband's property. In today's age, to still treat a woman as a man's property is violative of her dignity under the right to life, argued advocate Mihir Desai, who represented an NGO. The HC appeared to agree with Desai.
The court observed that "there may be some substance in the argument that the time has come to visit the scheme of Section 497 of the IPC. However, that has to be decided by the legislature."
The court upheld the contention of additional solicitor-general Darius Khambata and advocate Vibhav Krishna who represented Sundeep Singarpuri, who had filed the complaint against the petitioner, that it was only the legislature that could change the law.
Pradhan argued that social circumstances had changed and pointed out how the Domestic Violence Act recognized the concept of domestic relationship and live-in relationship even among same-sex couples. He had also argued that time has come when the extramarital relationship between two adults ought not to be called an offence. The high court did not accept it as grounds to quash the section.
The HC observed, "We are not impressed by the argument that married persons have freedom to have extramarital relations and civil consequences are good enough to punish both of them or any of them." The HC added, "Just because adultery is not an offence in some countries and there is variance of sentence of punishment for men and women, we cannot hold Section 497 of Indian Penal Code as Ultra Vires"
A bench of Justices B H Marlapalle and U D Salvi upheld the Constitutional validity of provision of Section 497 of Indian Penal Code, which makes adultery punishable. The petition was filed by a Worli businessman against whom a complaint of adultery was filed last year. His counsel Nitin Pradhan argued that making adultery punishable was a violation of a person's fundamental rights like the right to life, right to privacy and the right to have sexual relationships with a person of one's choice in a changing society where there was greater acceptance of consensual relationships.
The offence originated because the woman is treated as the husband's property. In today's age, to still treat a woman as a man's property is violative of her dignity under the right to life, argued advocate Mihir Desai, who represented an NGO. The HC appeared to agree with Desai.
The court observed that "there may be some substance in the argument that the time has come to visit the scheme of Section 497 of the IPC. However, that has to be decided by the legislature."
The court upheld the contention of additional solicitor-general Darius Khambata and advocate Vibhav Krishna who represented Sundeep Singarpuri, who had filed the complaint against the petitioner, that it was only the legislature that could change the law.
Pradhan argued that social circumstances had changed and pointed out how the Domestic Violence Act recognized the concept of domestic relationship and live-in relationship even among same-sex couples. He had also argued that time has come when the extramarital relationship between two adults ought not to be called an offence. The high court did not accept it as grounds to quash the section.
The HC observed, "We are not impressed by the argument that married persons have freedom to have extramarital relations and civil consequences are good enough to punish both of them or any of them." The HC added, "Just because adultery is not an offence in some countries and there is variance of sentence of punishment for men and women, we cannot hold Section 497 of Indian Penal Code as Ultra Vires"
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