Adultery not a crime, rules Indian Supreme Court

M Humayun Kabir: Adultery is not a crime even though, “without a shadow of doubt”, it can be grounds for divorce, the Supreme Court of India said.
It has scrapped a 158-year law that punished a man for an affair but not the woman, treating her as “property”.
“A man having sexual intercourse with a married woman is not a crime,” said Chief Justice Dipak Misra, calling the Victorian adultery law arbitrary, reports NDTV.
Three judges in a five-member constitution bench held that making adultery a crime is retrograde and would mean “punishing unhappy people”.
The court said that most countries have abolished law against adultery.
Justice Misra, while reading out the verdict, said, “Any law which affects individual dignity, equity of women in a civilised society invites the wrath of the Constitution.”
“Any provision treating woman with inequality is not constitutional,” Justice Misra said. The wife can’t be treated as chattel, said the court.
The centre had defended the law saying adultery must remain a crime so that the sanctity of marriage can be protected, after a petition called for the law to be scrapped as it does not treat men and women equally.