ADULTERY - Is a criminal offence?

           ADULTERY- Is a criminal offence?      

In simple meaning, adultery is " sex between a married person and somebody who is not his/ her wife/ husband".

Definition of Adultery: 

Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code , 1860 ( IPC) , defined adultery as " whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery".

Here, two key points to consider here. 

a) First, under Section 497 only a man could be prosecuted and punished for committing the crime of adultery.

b) Second, for someone to be punished for adultery he must have had sexual intercourse with another man's wife, without that man's consent. 

It was punishable with up to five years imprisonment and a fine. 

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) ( July 1, 2024) does not mention adultery as it was decriminalised by the apex court. 

Adultery is no longer a criminal offense , because- in 2018 , a five judge constitutional bench ruled that section 497 was unconstitutional. According to the bench, this provision was discriminatory towards women and treated them as subordinate to their husbands" in as much as it lays down that when there is consent of the man, there is no offence".

The SC also stuck down section 198 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 for similar reasons.

Relevance of adultery:

It could be a relief for divorce proceedings .

But the SC clarified that adultery would remain moral wrong and could be invoked as a ground in civil proceedings.