KOCHI: The Supreme Court’s verdict on adultery has made this Kozhikode native get his last laugh. Joeph Shine, a hotelier, whose petition led the Supreme Court to decriminalise adultery, lives in Italy these days.
But what compelled a 'happily married' Shine to file a plea against adultery law? He says he just wanted to see men in India not penalised for extra-marital affairs by vengeful women or their husbands.
"He had for long felt the archaic nature of IPC section 497, but even more baffling for him have been its misogynist nature and the burden women are made to bear due to it," Shine’s counsels Kaleeswaram Raj and Thulasi K Raj said.
Describing the judgment as 'monumental', the duo said that Shine has been quite vocal about the atrocities and derogatory comments made against women.
Kaleeswaram Raj and Thulasi K Raj said the Supreme Court verdict on adultery upholds the dignity of not just men or women, but of citizens as a whole.
Earlier, Shine had filed a peition against Kerala power minister M M Mani for his remarks against ‘Pembilai Orumai’. The case is pending before the apex court’s constitutional bench.
“We’re now among the galaxy of more than 70 modern democracies where citizens are not punished for their moral wrongs. According to the scheme of provisions, even in a vexatious litigation where a woman is tagged with a man, by her own husband, she can’t defend herself, as she’s not a party to such proceedings. Massive misuse of the adultery provision also will come to an end with this judgment. The provisions in themselves haven’t been helpful in maintaining the institution of marriage. They did quite the opposite,” they said.
“Very often, many families are perpetually and irreparably broken on account of prosecution for adultery, some of which are even malicious. Therefore, the judgment will carry out a rescue operation in thousands of families, in future. The court has also struck a fine balance on the topic by holding that adultery will remain as a ground for divorce in accordance with the personal laws in the country,” added Raj and Thulasi.
The counsels said the verdict redefines relationships. “True, it apparently redefines the husband-wife relation or man-woman relation. It also radically alters the state-citizen relation in the matters of intimate personal decisions,” they said.
“The judgment has categorically said the state has no legitimate interest in punishing citizens for matrimonial or personal aberrations. The Supreme Court, by striking down the colonial provisions, has acted as the guardian of the Constitution. The judgment has scaled up the level of individual liberty in the country. It has reduced the state police’s power in the matter of intimate personal choices,” they added.