Why punish only men for adultery, asks SC
December 09, 2017 08:22
In the hearing of a petition challenging Section 497 (Adultery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre asking why a married woman, who is equally liable for the offence of adultery with a married man who is not her husband, be not punished along with the man.
Under the law, the offence of adultery is criminalised, but only the man is liable for punishment. Further, if the husband of the woman gives his consent for sexual intercourse with another man, the law does not recognise it as an offence.
Advocate Kaleeswaram Raj, along with his colleague Suvidutt Sundaram, appeared before the apex court on behalf of petitioner Joseph Shine. "It (Section 497) has a curious provision in the sense that it proposes to punish only the men involved in the act, and not the women.
Exonerating the woman who is allegedly involved in the very same activity is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees equality before law and equal protection of the law," Raj told ANI.
"We have also challenged the text of the IPC provision that says only if a husband's consent is not given then is it an offence, so we have raised that it is a male chauvinistic provision in the sense that it gives a free hand to the husband to determine if whatever is happening is an offence or not. This is not a gender neutral provision and constitution is always gender neutral," Raj added.
He said that the petition also sought to invalidate 198 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) that states only a husband can file the complaint, that too against the man but not his wife.
The top court prima-facie accepted the contention saying that the provision is not gender-neutral.
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