Adultery must remain a punishable offence: Centre

Adultery must remain a punishable offence: Centre

News:

1. Recently, the Centre contended that adultery should remain a crime to protect the institution of marriage

Important Facts:

2. The Centre has opposed a petition before the Supreme Court that challenges the constitutionality of Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code
3. The petition challenges the validity of Section 198 (1) and (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which states that that only a husband can be an aggrieved party in adultery and only he can go to court
4. According to Section 497 if a man has sexual intercourse with another’s wife without the husband’s “consent or connivance”, he is guilty of the offence of adultery and shall be punished”.
5. Critics of the Section 497 opine that the provision undermines individual independent identity of a woman as it treats woman as a mere property of her husband. This leads to subordination of a woman while the Constitution confers women equal status