Login With Google
Jail term for adultery does not make sense
Why it is in news?
- Sending a person to prison for five years for adultery does not appeal to common sense, Chief Justice of India orally observed
Adultery
- Adultery does not even qualify as a criminal offence and is at the mosta civil wrong,
- He said heading a five-judge Constitution Bench.
- He said adultery has a civil remedy: divorce.
- First, an adulterous relationship is carried on with the consent of the woman.
- “If a third party attacks or molests the wife of another, it amounts to rape. Rape is an offence. But if a relationship is carried with the consent of the woman, how does it amount to an offence? If there is consent [between two adults], why punish the wife’s lover?”
- The Bench was countering submissions by the Centre represented by Additional Solicitor-General that adultery should remain in the Indian Penal Code
- As it ensures the sanctity of the marriage, and is for public good.
- “Protecting marriage is the responsibility of the couple involved. If one of them fails, there is a civil remedy available to the other. Where is the question of public good in a broken marriage,” Chief Justice
Source
The Hindu