Decriminalization of Adultery

Why in News?

• The Supreme Court has recently ruled that armed forces can take action against their officers for adulterous acts, while stating the decriminalization of adultery does not apply to Armed Forces.

Highlights

• The SC clarified that in the 2018 judgment, the SC was concerned only with the validity of Section 497 of the IPC and Section 198(2) of the CrPC dealing with adultery, and had “no occasion whatsoever to consider the effect” with respect to the Army, Navy and Air Force Acts.
• Defence personnel of the three wings — the Army, Navy and the Air Force were governed by special legislation, the Army Act, the Navy Act and the Air Force Act.
• These special laws impose restrictions on the fundamental rights of the personnel, who function in peculiar situation requiring utmost discipline.
• The three laws are protected by Article 33 of the Constitution, which allow the government to modify the fundamental rights of the armed forces personnel
• The Bench delivered the final Order in the case, clarifying that the Joseph Shine Judgment did not apply to members of the armed forces who are accused of ‘conduct unbecoming’ and dismissed the application
• Abolishing adultery as a crime, might prevent members of the armed services from being found guilty of adulterous activities. When jawans and officers are deployed to hostile environments, other officers look after their families at base camp, and the laws and regulations that specify consequences for engaging in adulterous or promiscuous behavior aid in upholding discipline.
• Armed services soldiers who commit adultery with a coworker’s wife may be cashiered from their jobs for acting unbecomingly
• In September 2018 Joseph Shine Judgment, the SC struck down Section 497 of the IPC that criminalised adultery, ruling that it was unconstitutional and violated women’s right to equality in treating them as inferior to their husbands