Constitution bench to review adultery law

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday referred to a 5-judge Constitution Bench a ticklish question of discrimination between a man and a woman in extramarital relationship as the man is punished under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code that deals with adultery but not the woman despite she being an equal partner in such an act.

The Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M.Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y.Chandrachud, which had admitted a PIL on December 8, held that the issue has Constitutional overtones requiring reconsideration of earlier verdicts of the top court upholding Section 497 as valid in 1954 and 1985 and again in December 2011.

In response to the petitioner’s pleading that the penal section was envisioned at a time when woman were considered a man’s property, which is against the Constitution that confers equal  status to man and woman, the Bench said when there is societal progress, there has to be a different kind of focus on the affirmative rights conferred on the women.

The petitioner has also challenged Section 198 of the CrPC that allows an aggrieved husband to file a complaint against a man engaged in adulterous relationship with his wife, but it gives no right to an aggrieved wife of a man engaged in such a relationship with another woman.

The petitioner has questioned the validity of these sections on the grounds that they violate Art 14 (equality before law), 15 (Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth) and 21 (Protection of life and personal liberty).