Is it time to make adultery law gender neutral? Will it impact institution of marriage?

The current law clearly indicates that adultery is an offence only for a man who gets into a relationship with someone else's wife.

New Delhi, Sep 27: The Supreme Court is set to pronounce its verdict on the contentious Adultery Law on Thursday. The existing law, Section 497, states that a man found guilty of adultery can be punished and the right to press adultery charges lies with the husband of a woman with whom the accused man indulges in sexual intercourse.

According to laws, adultery is voluntary sexual relations between a married person and a person who is not his or her spouse. The current law clearly indicates that adultery is an offence only for a man who gets into a relationship with someone else's wife.

The existing law may seem discriminatory against men, as contended by the petition challenging it. But it can be looked at from another point of view which is that the law does not provide for any right to the man's wife to press charges against her erring husband or the woman with whom the husband has indulged in sexual intercourse with.

"In the case where it is consensual, I think both the man and the married woman are equal abetters to the offence. Both parties are equally responsible for upholding their marriage. Unless the law makes both of them equally responsible for the offence, it is a one sided offence which many people may even take advantage of," Smriti (Name changed), a married woman from Bangalore, told OneIndia.

The law at present allows a husband to press charges against the man who has sexual relations with his wife. But in vice versa, the wife does not have the same recourse to proceed against the husband's mistress.

When we asked Smriti against whom the law is discriminatory - Men or women, she said, "Coming to the question of whom is it discriminating, it is a dicey question. You could say that the man is obviously being discriminated here because there could be scenarios where women might take undue advantage of this law. At the same time, if we delve down to understand why this law held only the man responsible for this in the first place, it makes me wonder if this law came into being from a time where women didn't really have a say in such matters and it was only the man's call and decision that could be penalized".

She also said that scrapping the section entirely would be detrimental and would not serve any purpose. "Then it's like indirectly supporting adultery. In a world where women believe they need to have equal rights as men, I think we are and should be willing to own up to wrong doings as equally as men," she added.

The Centre had earlier told the apex court that Section 497 IPC was enacted so as to safeguard the sanctity of marriage and diluting it would be detrimental to matrimonial bond.

Conclusion:

Scrapping or diluting adultery law would definately impact the instituion of marriage in our society. The need of the hour is to make it gender neutral so that both sexes can he held equally responsible for an offense such as adultery. Afterall, it is the responsibility of both spouses to uphold the sanctity of marriage.