IPC And Adultery: Analyzing The Ambit Gender Neutrality Of The Law

Sany Antony, BA0130052

Abstract

Adultery under IPC is a criminal offence in India it is committed by a third person against a
husband in respect of his wife and of which a man can alone be held liable for the offence, the
offence is not charged on the woman. This paper seeks to analyze the ambit of neutrality of Sec
497 of IPC , the first part deals with the present legal status and the ingredients needed for the
offence , the second part will deal with the Judicial aspect of the offence including case laws and
the validity with respect to Article 14 and also arguing that this does not come under the purview
of Article 15(3) , the fourth part deals with various recommendations by various committees and
the final part deals with the legal provisions in other countries and about de-criminalization of
the offence with the considerable socio-economic changes in society and finally concludes by
suggesting to revoke the age old law.

Keywords: Adultery, Indian Penal Code, Gender equality, Constitutional validity

Literature Review

1. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice

System1- talks about the interference in matrimonial home as a offence in India as marriage is
considered a scared affair.

2. Avik Ghatak, Section 497 (Adultery) of the Indian Penal Code - The MYTH and the
REALITY2- speaks about the definition of the term adultery and its religious consequences in
various relegions.
3. Jovan Payes, Adultery and the Old Testament3-talks about the origin of the terminology
adultery.

1
http://www.mumbaipolice.org/%5Carchives_report%5Cmalimath%20committee%20report.pdf
2
http://www.lawyersclubindia.com/articles/Section-497-Adultery-of-the-Indian-Penal-Code-The-MYTH-and-the-
REALITY-4876.asp
3
http://biblicalfaith.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/adultery and-the-old-testament/
4. Law Commission of India, Forty-second Report: Indian Penal Code (Government of India,
1971)- speaks about the reform to make adultery a civil wrong in respect to changes in the socio-
economic benchmark of the society.
5. Ratanlal & Dhirajlal The Indian Penal Code- tells in detail the gravity of the offence and
the punishment under IPC.