Trishna Prasad, BBA.LLB Alliance School of Law, Alliance University, Bangalore
ABSTRACT
Adultery is a criminal offence and is committed by a third person against a husband in respect of his wife and of which a man can be held criminally liable for the offence. It is an offence under section 497 of Indian Penal code, 1860; under which wife doesn’t come under the ambit of the offence and only the man is liable for committing the offence of adultery for a period of five years. The Supreme Court recently noted that section 497 is anti-women and archaic and is gender biased and not gender neutral. The paper starts by giving a brief introduction on adultery. The second part of the paper talks about constitutional validity by various judgments by Supreme Court. Followed by criticism of the present law and analyses whether it violates article 14, 15 and whether article 497 comes under the preview of article 15(3). The fourth part of the paper discusses the recommendation made by various committees and whether section 497 to be decriminalized. The paper concludes by analysing the necessity for amendment of section 497 of the Indian Penal Code
