- The Indian Penal Code 497 mentions it is a punishable offense for a man to have sexual intercourse with a married woman without the consent of her husband. The man committing such an offense can be imprisoned for five years or more and can also be asked to pay a fine. In the context of Indian legal jurisprudence, innumerable cases are falling under the ambit of the IPC section 497 for adulterous indulgences. However, the interpretation of the penal code has been anything but uniform when pursuing the cases booked under the provision. No wonder, such cases always tend to make headlines as the affected players attempt to seek relief and addressal of their plight from the judiciary. Societal implications too cannot be overlooked.
PC: Lawtendo
- One such incident was reported lately when a Gujarat high court order reinstated a police constable who lost his job over adultery. This particular order made several heads turn for its pragmatic interpretation of the penal code. What is interesting to note here is that the order draws the line firmly between personal choice and professional career. The court noted that the constable’s superiors or society may view the relationship from the prism of immorality but there was no ground to invoke disciplinary provisions related to misconduct under the relevant statutory rules.
- Interestingly, the court is telling everyone else, especially public authorities, to keep their moral outrage to themselves and to also consider indulgent couples’ viewpoints holistically. Needless to mention, unless service rules across India are updated to restrict the scope for loosely applying misconduct provisions, the situation may not change much. Note that even before the Supreme Court judgments striking down adultery as a penal offense (Section 497 IPC) in 2018 and recognizing the fundamental right to privacy in 2017, high courts have ruled against authorities pursuing disciplinary proceedings for adultery, noting that misconduct requires proof of an adverse effect on an officer’s public duties.
PC: SNS
- Despite the 2018 judgment, moral policing continues to manifest, most visible in the coercion that couples in an extramarital relationship face so horrendously. Nonetheless, courts themselves are prone to social morality. 2021 witnessed a few orders by various high courts not just denying such couples protection, but also levying monetary penalties or passing harsh observations on their conduct. The reason is glaring inconsistencies between orders of the various courts, some defending the rights of those in extramarital relationships and some frowning on them, which should stop now that the Supreme Court’s ruling reiterates the equality before the law of all consenting adults.
- The Centre’s submission, during SC’s hearing on the adultery provision, that armed forces service conduct rules, which allow personnel to be penalized for adultery with partners of fellow soldiers, was also critiqued. The counterargument was in terms of maintaining morale in a job that may require facing extreme danger together. Therefore, it is incumbent that authorities elsewhere must grow up and allow the grown-ups to be in a mature, evolved, and understanding civilized society.
