The 158 year old law has just been declared unconstitutional.
India’s Supreme Court has declared a law against adultery unconstitutional. Under the 158-year old law of the British colonial era, a man could face up to five years imprisonment if he had intercourse with another man’s wife without the husband’s consent. The five judges unanimously pleaded with a plaintiff that this would violate gender equality, as numerous media reported Thursday from the courtroom in the capital, New Delhi.
“It is time to say that the husband is not the husband of his wife,” read the pre-retirement chief judge Dipak Misra from the judgment. “Legal sovereignty of one sex over the opposite sex is wrong.” However, adultery should continue to be considered a divorce ground in civil law. The Indian government had argued that the law should be maintained to protect the inviolability of marriage.
Sources: Kurier