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Supreme Court begins hearing on adultery law
Why it is in news?
- Referring to how the offence of adultery in the Indian Penal Code treats a woman as a “chattel” or property of her husband the Supreme Court questioned whether adultery should be viewed as a crime at all if it amounts to violation of the right of equality of a woman.
More on news
- With this a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, began examining whether the pre-Independence provision of adultery (Section 497) treats a married woman as a commodity owned by her husband and violates the constitutional concepts of gender equality.
- The petition wants Section 497 to be dropped as a criminal offence from the penal code.
- The Constitution Bench will re-examine a consistent view, dating back to 1954, that adultery as an offence should be retained in the penal code to uphold family ties.
- Section 497 of the Code mandates that if a man has sexual intercourse with another’s wife without the husband’s “consent or connivance,” he is guilty of the offence of adultery and shall be punished.
- Secondly, the provision does not confer any right on the wife to prosecute her husband for adultery.
Source
The Hindu