Section 497

On a day the Supreme Court declared adultery is no longer a crime in India and said women cannot be treated as "chattel", union minister Uma Bharti claimed equal rights is a western concept and that in India women have been considered superior to men.

The colonial-era law criminalising adultery strips women of their "sexual autonomy" and treats them as a "chattel" and "property" of their husbands, the Supreme Court ruled today while holding the provision as unconstitutional.

As the century-old adultery law was scrapped by five most senior Supreme Court judges today, it became the second instance of Chandrachud vs Chandrachud or father vs son. Justice DY Chandrachud was among the five judges who called Section 497, the law that punishes men and not women for adultery, unconstitutional and scrapped it.

In an unanimous verdict, the Supreme Court has struck down the 158- year-old section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, which says adultery is a crime. It can however, be grounds for divorce "without a shadow of doubt", said the top court.

Adultery is no longer a crime in India though "without a shadow of doubt" can be grounds for divorce, the Supreme Court said today, junking a 158-year law that punished a man for an affair but not the woman, treating her as her husband's property.

The Centre today favoured in the Supreme Court the retention of penal law on adultery, saying that it is a public wrong which causes mental and physical injury to the spouse, children and the family.

The Supreme Court yesterday reserved the verdict on Section 497 (Adultery) of the Indian Penal Code while observing that infidelity is the cause of breaking up of loyal marriages.

Adultery must remain a crime so the sanctity of marriage can be protected, the Centre told the Supreme Court today after a petition called for the law to be scrapped as it does not treat men and women equally. The Victorian law punishes a man for an affair but there is no punishment for women, who are seen as subservient to their husbands.

Women can't be prosecuted for adultery in India but this could change. The Supreme Court today agreed to revisit the 19th century criminal law that provides for punishing only men, and not women, for adultery.

On a day the Supreme Court declared adultery is no longer a crime in India and said women cannot be treated as "chattel", union minister Uma Bharti claimed equal rights is a western concept and that in India women have been considered superior to men.

The colonial-era law criminalising adultery strips women of their "sexual autonomy" and treats them as a "chattel" and "property" of their husbands, the Supreme Court ruled today while holding the provision as unconstitutional.

As the century-old adultery law was scrapped by five most senior Supreme Court judges today, it became the second instance of Chandrachud vs Chandrachud or father vs son. Justice DY Chandrachud was among the five judges who called Section 497, the law that punishes men and not women for adultery, unconstitutional and scrapped it.

In an unanimous verdict, the Supreme Court has struck down the 158- year-old section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, which says adultery is a crime. It can however, be grounds for divorce "without a shadow of doubt", said the top court.

Adultery is no longer a crime in India though "without a shadow of doubt" can be grounds for divorce, the Supreme Court said today, junking a 158-year law that punished a man for an affair but not the woman, treating her as her husband's property.

The Centre today favoured in the Supreme Court the retention of penal law on adultery, saying that it is a public wrong which causes mental and physical injury to the spouse, children and the family.

The Supreme Court yesterday reserved the verdict on Section 497 (Adultery) of the Indian Penal Code while observing that infidelity is the cause of breaking up of loyal marriages.

Adultery must remain a crime so the sanctity of marriage can be protected, the Centre told the Supreme Court today after a petition called for the law to be scrapped as it does not treat men and women equally. The Victorian law punishes a man for an affair but there is no punishment for women, who are seen as subservient to their husbands.

Women can't be prosecuted for adultery in India but this could change. The Supreme Court today agreed to revisit the 19th century criminal law that provides for punishing only men, and not women, for adultery.