NEW DELHI: In a significant move, a parliamentary panel examining the three criminal justice bills has made recommendations of reinstating the adultery law and Section 377, which criminalises non-consensual sex between men, women or trans persons, according to sources.
The Standing Committee on Home Affairs was mandated with reviewing the three proposed bills, which seek to replace the Indian Penal Code, of 1860, the Criminal Procedure Code, of 1898, and the Indian Evidence Act, of 1872.
The three bills — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023, and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 — were introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 11 by Home Minister Amit Shah. The standing committee headed by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Brijlal was given three months for consultations and to submit its report on the bills. The committee will convene on November 6.
According to people familiar with the development, the members of the panel suggested that adultery should be criminalised and a gender-neutral provision should be inserted. In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down the 158-year-old colonial-era law and held that adultery laws are archaic and unconstitutional. As per the law, if found guilty of adultery, a man could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison. The law also did not have the provision for women to file a complaint against an adulterous husband. Incidentally, the Centre had opposed the petition in the court, arguing that striking down adultery laws will be detrimental to the sanctity of marriages.
According to sources, the House panel also recommended reinstating Section 377, which decrimnalised gay sex in India. In a landmark judgment in 2018, the SC struck down Section 377 of the IPC in Navtej Johar vs Union of India, 2018. The verdict was heralded as a watershed moment for right activists in the long-drawn battle for decriminalising homosexuality.
It was also learnt that the panel recommended punishment for murder by mob lynching on par with punishment for murder. Though several opposition members including the DMK raised objections regarding the Hindi titles of the bills, pointing out that it is violative of Article 348, the panel may stick to the titles, sources said.
