BACK TO SECTIONS(2019) 3 SCC 39
IPC 1860REPEALED
Section 497
Adultery (STRUCK DOWN — Unconstitutional)
Replaced by:
N/ACognizable: N/AN/A
THE STATUTE
Original Text
[STRUCK DOWN] Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man... is guilty of the offence of adultery.
Simplified
Section 497 was a colonial-era law that criminalised sexual intercourse between a man and a married woman without her husband's consent — treating the wife as the 'property' of the husband and the husband as the only aggrieved party. It did not punish the wife herself. On September 27, 2018, the Supreme Court in Joseph Shine v. Union of India unanimously struck down Section 497 as unconstitutional, violating Articles 14, 15, and 21. 'The husband is not the master of the wife,' the court held. Adultery is no longer a crime in India — it remains a valid ground for divorce in civil law. The BNS has no equivalent to Section 497.
Legal Evolution
Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018) — a unanimous constitutional bench judgment ending 158 years of criminalised adultery. The court found the provision was rooted in a patriarchal notion that a wife is the husband's property.
Landmark Precedents
Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018)
RELEVANCE
Unanimous constitutional bench struck down Section 497 as unconstitutional — violating Articles 14 (equality), 15 (sex discrimination), and 21 (dignity/privacy).
Practical Scenarios
"Consensual sexual relationship between a married woman and a man other than her husband — no longer a criminal offence."
Common Queries
No — the Supreme Court has decriminalised it. It is now only a civil matter and a ground for divorce.