NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday reduced a wife-beater 's sentence by two years and advised childless couples to opt for adoption saying adopted children gave as much happiness as natural ones.

Inability to conceive could not be fastened only on the wife, said a bench of Justices Markandey Katju and C K Prasad while upholding conviction of a husband who regularly assaulted his wife, forcing her to commit suicide.

"It is natural that everyone wants children, but if a woman does not have a child, that does not mean that she should be insulted or harassed. In such a situation, the best course would be to take medical help, and if that fails, to adopt a child," the bench said.

"Experience has shown that an adopted child gives as much happiness to the adoptive parents as any natural child does," it said while reducing the sentence of the husband from seven years to five years, a period which he had already undergone.