Cheating on your wife doesn't amount to dowry harassment or cruelty-SC

The Supreme Court has clarified that an extramarital affairs will not invite provisions under Section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code (Dowry Law) and neither does it amount to cruelty.

New Delhi, Nov 25: The Supreme Court has clarified that an extramarital affairs will not invite provisions under Section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code (Dowry Law) and neither does it amount to cruelty.

The court made it clear that an extramarital affairs would not per se come under the ambit of Section 498 A.

Instead an extramarital affair would be an illegal act, a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra observed.

The Bench also went on to clarify that a man cannot be held guilty if his wife has committed suicide after learning about his extramarital affair. This does not come under the ambit of abetment to suicide, the bench further stated.

Further the Bench also said that if a man is involved in an extramarital affair and there is some suspicion in the mind of the wife, it does not amount mental cruelty.

The order was passed when the court was hearing a plea filed by a man from Kolar who was sentenced to four years imprisonment for abetting his wife's suicide.

The bench acquitted him on the ground that there was no evidence to show that he had treated his wife with cruelty.

OneIndia News