ADULTERY

July 1, 2020

The Supreme Court has refused to review its 2018 judgment which decriminalised adultery.

About:

  • It upheld a September 2018 judgment by Constitution Bench which had struck adultery out of the penal statute book.

  • The original judgment found that Section 497 (adultery) of the Indian Penal Code cannot “command” married couples to remain loyal to each other for the fear of penal punishment.

  • Two individuals may part if one cheats, but to attach criminality to infidelity is going too far.

  • The court had reasoned that there was no data whatsoever to support claims that abolition of adultery as a crime would result in “chaos in sexual morality” or an increase of divorce.

Source : The Hindu