The term adultery is being used in matrimonial issues. For some people this word mayevokes pain which can be felt by the person who has experienced a broken marriage. The term adultery is driver from Latin word adulterated which means to alter or change. The term also signifies something which is not pure or which is polluted. Now the term adultery means a person has corrupted, polluted his or her marriage by introducing a third person into their material relationship. In present world adultery is very common phenomena few nations of this world criminalizes the adultery. But adultery is being decriminalized in some parts of Latin America and Europe. In Japan if some one is found to be in adulterous relationship can loose his job as well as marriage.
In our country Adultery is crime under the heading of offences relating to marriage which is being incorporated in chapter XX of Indian Penal Code. It is also one of the grounds for judicial separation and divorce as provided in the personal laws. The term adultery means voluntary sexual intercourse with the person whom you know is wife or husband of someone else. Section 497 on Indian Penal Code, 1860 states: “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, 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 punishable as an abettor.” That means consensual sexual intercourse of unmarried man with unmarried woman, unmarried man and married womanand married man and unmarried woman is not the offence of adultery in our Indian Penal Code, 1860. So is Section 497 of IPC is Gender Discriminatory in nature is the most important question came first in the mind of everyone after reading and understanding the said section of I.P.C. As the Indian Penal Code came into effect on 1860, the provisions were drafted keeping in mind the situation of that time so in present it is felt that the provisions might be discriminatory in Nature. A Public Interest Litigation was filled by Joseph Shine from Kerela who is working in Italy challenging Constitutional validity of Section 497, IPC, 1860 and asking why only man and not the consenting female partner (wife of another) is prosecuted under the said provision. Recently the Supreme Court had examined the Constitutional validity of Section 497 (adultery) IPC, 1860 and a Bench of Chief Justice DipakMisra, Justice A.M Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y Chandeachudissued a notice to Central for its response on the said Public Interest Litigation and the bench also observed that “Prima facie, on a perusal of Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, we find that it grants relief to the wife by treating her as a victim. It is also worthy to note that when an offence is committed by both of them, one is liable for the criminal offence but the other is absolved. It seems to be based on a societal presumption.” The Supreme Court issued Notice to sought Centre’s response on the issue in four weeks than only it will be clear to us what opinion Centre possess in that regard.
Asst.Prof.ofLaw—RupaPradhan.
