Why adultery is not a crime

You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Please enable scripts and reload this page. Page Content. Critics have called the law "staggeringly sexist" , " 'crudely anti-woman' ", and " 'violative of the right to equality' ". The main concern, according to the respected journal Economic and Political Weekly , is "not whether the expectations of fidelity in a marriage are right or wrong, or whether adultery denotes sexual freedom. Adultery is considered illegal in 21 American states, including New York, although surveys show that while most Americans disapprove of adultery, they don't think of it as a crime.

Taiwan punishes adultery by up to a year in prison and it is also deemed a crime in Indonesia. In fact, Indonesia is drafting laws that prohibit all consensual sex outside the institution of marriage. In , South Korea's Supreme Court struck down a similar law where a man could be sent to prison for two years or less for adultery.

The court said the law violated self-determination and privacy. More than 60 countries around the world had done away with laws that made adultery a crime, according to Indian lawyer Kaleeswaram Raj. In the UK, adultery is not a criminal offence and like many other countries, one of the main reasons given for divorce.

Couples cannot use adultery as a ground for divorce if they lived together as a couple for six months after the infidelity was known about. In , the law was first challenged by a petitioner asking why women cannot be punished for the offence, and that such "exemption was discriminatory".

Since then, the top court has rejected similar pleas, including the constitutional validity of the law, at least twice - and A married woman had approached the court, demanding the right to file a complaint of adultery against her husband's unmarried lover.

The court, rather patronisingly, described the plea as a "crusade by a woman against a woman". It said the law was about punishing the "outsider" who "breaks into the matrimonial home" and "violates its sanctity". Two different panels on law reforms in and recommended that women should also be prosecuted for the offence. Therefore there is no good reason for not meting out similar treatment to the wife who has sexual intercourse with a married man," the panel, led by a judge, said.

In , the top court, hearing another plea, said the law was facing criticism for "showing a strong gender bias, it makes the position of a married woman almost as a property of her husband". Many Indians were not even aware the law existed. However, after Thursday's ruling, people have been largely supportive of the verdict.

Decriminalising of Adultery is welcome and long overdue. Adultery is now grounds for divorce not crime. The law criminalising men for relations with some other man's wife was patriarchal, assumes wife is husband's property and has no autonomy.

Good riddance AdulteryVerdict. Court shows the way again! Adultery is grounds for divorce- but criminalizing consensual sexual and marital choices is State Over reach. The only time the State should be in your bedroom is if consent is missing. The Centre in its affidavit had said that diluting adultery law will impact the sanctity of marriages and will be detrimental to the matrimonial bond.

Terming the legislation as misogynistic, experts have said that it implicitly presumed the inability of self-governance and independence of female persons, upon their own lives.

The experts further said that this decriminalisation not only uplifted the legal treatment of women, but also afforded a far more equal treatment to men. About Us. Support Us Login. Become A Supporter. Hindi Marathi Urdu. Terms Privacy About Us. A file photo of the Supreme Court of India.