Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal today expressed her displeasure at the Supreme Court of India verdict on declaring section 497 of the Indian Penal Code on adultery, unconstitutional and calling it “manifestly arbitrary”. Taking to Twitter, Maliwal said that decriminalising section 497 will give licence to married couples for adulterous relationships.
https://twitter.com/SwatiJaiHind/status/1045229940231335937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Calling it ‘anti-women decision’, Maliwal said that instead of making the law gender neutral, it was decriminalised. However, her observation didn’t quite go down well with Twitter users who explained it to her that while section 497 is decriminalised, adultery is still a valid ground for divorce but not for criminal prosecution.
https://twitter.com/DeepikaBhardwaj/status/1045242266435153920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Earlier, the law didn’t punish the woman for committing adultery, but instead, the lover could be punished. That way, this step is one more step towards gender neutrality.
A Twitter user even explained to her that the sanctity of marriage she talks about essentially depends on the couple and that it means nothing if one or either of them doesn’t respect and love each other to cheat.
https://twitter.com/God_Conundrum/status/1045232489315414016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/navneet_mundhra/status/1045241342509473792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/VishakhaJ18/status/1045255598172975104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw