NEW DELHI: Adultery will not be made an offence for women, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday as it began hearing a batch of pleas challenging Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Moreover, the court would examine if adultery should remain a criminal offence at all.
“We make it very clear that we will not touch the law to make it an offence for women too. We will test the validity of Section 497 on Article 14,” the constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra said.
The bench also orally observed that the entire Section 497 would be struck down if it is held violative of the right to equality of women.
According to Section 497, adultery is an offence only with respect to a man who has a relationship with somebody’s wife. The wife is considered neither adulterous nor an abettor in law, while the man faces a jail term of up to five years. Another peculiar aspect of Section 497 is that the fulcrum of the offence is gone if consent or connivance of the husband can be established.