Women living under the shadow of husbands has gone: SC strikes down adultery law Section 497 IPC

The Supreme Court while questioning if the 'archaic' law on adultery would stand the test of right to equality. A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, made the observation while hearing a case challenging the validity of the penal law, which makes adultery an offence punishable only for men and not the consenting women. 150-year-old adultery law that considers punishment only to a man and not a married woman for an affair by treating her as a victim and not as an abettor of the offence. "Adultery law arbitrary," said the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. Section 497 deprives women of dignity and that women are treated as property of her husband. The court said any provision treating women with inequality is not constitutional and it's time to say that husband is not the master of woman. Adultery will remain a ground for divorce, the bench added.

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