Legislative Comment On The Decriminalization Of Adultery: Analysing The Constitutional Validity Of Striking Down Section 497 Of The Indian Penal Code
- IJLLR Journal
- Nov 30, 2025
- 2 min read
Natasha Tiwari & Navdeep Singh, IILM University
I. Introduction and Contextualization of the Legal Shift
The Supreme Court of India's landmark decision inJoseph Shine v. Union of India (2018) marked one of the most significant judicial interventions into personal liberty and marital law in the nation’s history. This judgment unanimously struck down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which criminalized adultery, and declared it unconstitutional. This legislative comment seeks to provide an exhaustive analysis of the constitutional, social, and legal rationale underpinning this removal, exploring the implications for gender parity, individual autonomy, and the very fabric of the institution of marriage in modern India.
The former Section 497 of the IPC, 1860, defined adultery as follows: "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, and shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both. In such case the wife shall not be punishable as an abettor."
For over 158 years, this provision stood as a draconian relic of the Victorian era, a penal law that treated women as chattel—the exclusive property of their husbands—and failed every modern test of equality and fundamental rights. The legislative comment argues that the Supreme Court’s decision was not merely an act of judicial review, but a necessary, emancipatory step required to align the criminal justice system with the progressive vision enshrined in the Constitution of India, particularly its guarantees under Articles 14, 15, and 21. The ruling rightfully shifted the conversation around marital infidelity from the punitive realm of criminal law to the remedial domain of civil and family law, acknowledging that a breach of trust in marriage, while a ground for divorce, cannot be equated with a crime against the State.
