The top court in India has ruled that adultery is no longer a criminal offence.
The colonial-era law, that has been in place for 158 years said any man who had sex with a married woman, without the permission of her husband, was guilty of the criminal act of adultery.Countless men have been prosecuted under the law since its inception, exact data is not available.
The law was challenged by a petitioner saying it was arbitrary and discriminated against men and women. This becomes the second colonial-era law struck down by the Supreme Court this month. Recently, it also overturned a 157-year-old law which effectively criminalised gay sex in India.
While reading out the judgement on adultery, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that while it could be grounds for civil issues like divorce, “it cannot be a criminal offence”.
However, India’s ruling BJP government had opposed the petition, insisting that adultery should remain a criminal offence.
“Diluting adultery laws will impact the sanctity of marriages. Making adultery legal will hurt marriage bonds,” a government counsel told the court, adding that “Indian ethos gives paramount importance to the institution and sanctity of marriage”.
Where else is adultery a criminal offence?
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.
Adultery is prohibited in Sharia or Islamic Law, so it is a criminal offence in Islamic countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia.
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 2015, 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 UK, adultery is not a criminal offense 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.
-BBC News
