New Delhi: The Supreme Court delivered an unanimous verdict with all the five judges concurring on a crucial 150-year-old adultery law that considers punishment only to a man and not a married woman for an affair by treating her as a victim and not as an abettor of the offence. "Adultery law arbitrary," said the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. Section 497 deprives women of dignity and that women are treated as property of her husband. The court said any provision treating women with inequality is not constitutional and it's time to say that husband is not the master of woman. Adultery will remain a ground for divorce, the bench added.
The centre had, in its defence, claimed that the law should remain valid as it protects the sanctity of marriage. The petition filed against the law was done so on the premise that the law does not treat men and women equally.
A five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, had reserved its verdict in August. The hearing in the case by the bench, which also comprised justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, went on for six days and had begun on August 1.
Here are the updates of the Supreme Court verdict on Adultery law:
Sep 27, 2018 20:19 (IST)
Activists and lawyers welcomed the Supreme Court's landmark verdict on decriminalising adultery, saying patriarchal control over a women's body was unacceptable, according to news agency IANS.
The Supreme Court on Thursday decriminalised adultery after striking down a British era law -- Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code -- terming it as unconstitutional, archaic and manifestly arbitrary.
Supreme Court lawyer Shilpi Jain told IANS that the law was sexist.
"Even 20 years ago, I have said the law should be struck down as it is sexist. It was, no doubt, an archaic law. In today's time, the law was irrelevant, especially when many marriages were broken and divorces take years to happen," she said.
"It was much needed the law is struck down. We have even legitimised live-in relationships and after that is legitimised, how can you question adultery.
"The verdict was the need of the hour and in the modern time, women need some breathing space and by doing away with this the law has given some breathing space to them," Jain added.
Social activist Ranjana Kumari too welcomed the judgment, saying "patriarchal control over women's body unacceptable".
Sep 27, 2018 11:36 (IST)
The offence of adultery entailed a maximum punishment of five years, or with fine, or both.