Adultery no more a crime; husband is not the master of his wife: Supreme Court

News Network
September 27, 2018

New Delhi, Sept 27: In a historic judgement, the Supreme Court of India on Thursday struck down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code that made adultery a criminal offence.

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra was unanimous in its judgement that held Section 497 as unconstitutional. While holding that adultery is manifestly arbitrary, the court said the act can be a ground for divorce and a person will have civil remedies for it.

The CJI and Justice Khanwilkar said, "We declare Section 497 IPC and Section 198 of CrPC dealing with the prosecution of offences against marriage as unconstitutional".

Reading out his part of the judgement, CJI Misra, who retires early next month, said mere adultery cannot be a crime, unless it attracts the scope of Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

Adultery law verdict - Highlights

“Equality is the governing principle of a system. Husband is not the master of the wife,” the CJI said, adding “the magnificent beauty of the democracy is I, you and we”.

The Chief Justice noted that an unhappy marriage might not be a result of adultery but vice versa. He pointed out that adultery is not a criminal offence in countries like China, Japan and Australia.

Justice Indu Malhotra described Section 497 as “a clear violation of fundamental rights granted in the Constitution”. There is no justification for the continuation of Section 497 of IPC, she concurred.

Justice Chandrachud, on his part, said Section 497 is denial of substance of equality as it imposes “a condition on the sexuality of women by making adultery as an offence.” He held the law as a “relic of the past”.

Justice RF Nariman, meanwhile, termed Section 497 dealing with adultery as an archaic law. He concurred with the CJI and Justice Khanwilkar, describing the penal provision under the law as violative of the rights to equality and equal opportunity to women.

Section 497 of the IPC read: "Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery, and shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years or with fine or with both. In such case the wife shall not be punishable as an abettor."

Comments

sam
 - 
Thursday, 27 Sep 2018

Ohhh....whats going on in india under name of democracy....

Ramprasad
 - 
Thursday, 27 Sep 2018

Strange. SC promoting adultery

Unknown
 - 
Thursday, 27 Sep 2018

Soon rape will be legalised.. 

Kumar
 - 
Thursday, 27 Sep 2018

No need of marriages and SC should legalise pornography. Should start pornography industry (just like other film industry) in India like US. 

Danish
 - 
Thursday, 27 Sep 2018

Rubbish. What is the point in marriage

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 5,2020

Mangaluru, July 5: Two children died after getting trapped under the debris of a landslide which occurred at Banglagudde in Kaikamba on the outskirts of Mangaluru today.

The deceased are identified as Safwan (16) and Sahala (10).

The rescue teams including personnel from NDRF, fire service and police brought out the body after four hours of rescue operation.

According to sources, landslides occurred at 12:30 pm and of the five members, three ran out of the house. The two kids got trapped in the debris.

The heavy rain in the last two days has softened the soil of the hillock. An Auto-rickshaw, lorry and a bike too have buried under the soil.

It was said that caving in of the hillock continued even when the rescue operation was in progress, thus making the rescue operation difficult.

District-in-Charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary who visited the spot said two houses have been completely damaged and inmates of 14 houses that are facing the problem in the vicinity will be shifted to safer locations.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Bengaluru, May 27: Amid uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has disrupted school education in Karnataka, the state government is seeking the help of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to televise classes, a state minister said on Tuesday.

"We request you to provide minimum three channels on the Doordarshan network exclusively for the Department of Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka," Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar said in a letter to Union I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Suggesting co-branding the channels under DD and the state education department, he asked for the channels to be mandatorily transmitted by the cable and DTH operators under the Cable Act.

The state education department has already discussed with Prasar Bharti officials, who, according Kumar, have assured 3+3 hours of timeslots on the education channel Chandana on cost basis.

"We have also made all the necessary arrangements for content creation by the teachers," he said.

Meanwhile, the minister has revealed that television is the best medium for the students as a home learning mode in these challenging times.

"The department of public instruction reviewed various technological options and considered TV as one of the best means for home learning," Kumar said.

In a survey conducted by the education department, it was found out that 95 per cent households had television sets.

Kumar said the state operates government schools in nine languages, including Kannada, English and Urdu.

"To cater to all the students, and considering a long-term strategy to run schools by maintaining social distancing, we are in immediate need of minimum three exclusive channels to teach through TV," he said.

According to Kumar, the Karnataka government is facing hardships to meet the capital expenditure requirements, hence, it is seeking help from the I&B Ministry.

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 3,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 2: A total of 5,532 new cases of COVID-19 and 84 deaths were reported in Karnataka in the last 24 hours, the state's health department informed on Sunday.

With this, the Karnataka's COVID-19 tally now stands at 1,34,819 positive cases, including 74,590 active cases and 57,725 discharges.
So far, 2,496 deaths have been reported from the state.

India's COVID-19 count on Sunday crossed the 17 lakh-mark with 54,736 positive cases and 853 deaths reported in the country.

"The total COVID-19 cases stand at 17,50,724 including 5,67,730 active cases, 11,45,630 cured/discharged/migrated and 37,364 deaths," said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

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