Adultery In India: Reviving The Provisions Of 42nd Law Commission of India Report, 1971

Abstract

Abstract India has had the reputation of a male dominated or patriarchal society which led to women, being the depressed and oppressed class of the society. This oppression of women, gave rise to a legal system which made more and more laws for the protection and empowerment of women. The decriminalized law of Adultery is one such law which was termed as a “Protective Provision” for women and hence omitted women from any sort of criminal liability and penalized the male offender only. However, the possibility of consent from the women to such adulterous relationship was neglected in the law of adultery. This paper argues that there should have been criminal liabilities for female offenders in the offence of adultery. This paper closes on the simple and applicable suggestions which could improve the enforcement of the law of adultery without infringing fundamental laws of men or women.