Supreme Court strikes down Section 497: Recap

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court today struck down Indian Penal Code Section 497. The bench, which included Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, held that Section 497 unconstitutional.

The judges held that Section 497 was an archaic law that violates of the right to equality and destroys and deprives women of dignity.

Unequal treatment of women invites the wrath of the Constitution - CJI Misra for himself and J. Khanwilkar

Adultery might not be cause of unhappy marriage, it could be result of an unhappy marriage, the CJI Misra said in his judgment, which he wrote for himself and Justice AM Khanwilkar.

FULL REPORT | Adultery no longer a crime, Supreme Court strikes down Section 497

Justice DY Chandrachud said that autonomy is intrinsic in dignified human existence and Section 497 denudes women from making choices and held adultery as a relic of past.

Adultery is a relic of the past - Justice DY Chandrachud

Section 497 of the 158-year-old IPC essentially made it a crime for a man to have sexual intercourse with the wife of another man without the other man's consent.

Adultery might not be cause of unhappy marriage, it could be result of an unhappy marriage - CJI Misra for himself and J. Khanwilkar

The law gave no recourse to women -- a woman could not be the perpetrator or the victim of the crime of adultery, for example. It was seen as anti-woman, an observation that the Supreme Court today agreed with.

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