The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional the 158-year-old Section 497 of IPC that punished a married man for the offence of adultery if he had sexual relations with a married woman “without the consent or connivance of her husband”, but said adultery could continue to be a ground for divorce.
“When parties to a marriage lose their moral commitment to the relationship, it creates a dent in the marriage and it will depend upon the parties how to deal with the situation. Some may exonerate and live together and some may seek divorce... A punishment is unlikely to establish commitment,” a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra said, rebutting the argument that Section 497 worked as a deterrent against spouses going astray.
 

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional the 158-year-old Section 497 of IPC that punished a married man for the offence of adultery if he had sexual relations with a married woman “without the consent or connivance of her husband”, but said adultery could continue to be a ground for divorce.
“When parties to a marriage lose their moral commitment to the relationship, it creates a dent in the marriage and it will depend upon the parties how to deal with the situation. Some may exonerate and live together and some may seek divorce... A punishment is unlikely to establish commitment,” a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra said, rebutting the argument that Section 497 worked as a deterrent against spouses going astray.