Adultery as mentioned under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code can be defined as ‘consensual sexual intercourse with the wife of another man without his consent or connivance,’ with up to 5 years of imprisonment, fine or both, it used to be entertained as a criminal offense.
Dating back to 1860, Enshrining the Patriarchal influence, the definition can be seen as more of a man-to-man dispute, neglecting the consent of the women and exempting them from the offense; Sec 198 (2) of the Code of the criminal procedure boosts the idea by allowing no person other than the husband of the woman deemed to be aggrieved.
With centuries of the Draconian law, the Supreme Court struck down section 497 on the plea of a non-resident Keralite, Joseph Shine challenging the Constitutionality of the act. However, it’s still preserved in pieces, narrowed into a ground of divorce. In a country like India, with stone rigid views against divorce, one can either sip down their unfaithful partner or get deserted by society. The societal disagreement gets tougher for women. For a housewife in a village with twice-in-day electricity, Divorce is crushing her future along with her child’s, ‘How could she not bear a husband not loyal to her?’ By decriminalizing Adultery we safeguarded the fundamental rights of equality and Prohibition of discrimination, it’s a step to an ideal society but we can’t ignore the brutality unleashed on women, with their husbands immunized against the fear of legal consequences to their disloyalty.
In the case of Nakkerran Alias Jeroan Pandy Vs State and Anr, cascading from nothing but reasonable doubts of Bigamy, Dowry and associated cruelty, the court stated that if an extramarital relationship of a man causes serious domestic discord between a married couple then he can be convicted of causing wife mental cruelty on his wife under sec 498 (A) of IPC, confirming the short term imprisonment of the accused. Relying upon the dictum in KV Prakash Babu Vs State of Karnataka, The court considered the abnormality of the facts and circumstances establishing an extramarital relationship with the adjacent episode of the wife being subject to mental torture and being forced to leave her matrimonial home.
Although the judgment would bring massive relaxation for women suffering from a toxic relationship, still it seems like we’re back to square one.
The verdict confines the term for the legal remedy around women leaving the scope for being challenged on the grounds of its constitutionality.