Adultery Law

The legal provision under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised adultery was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional for violating fundamental rights to equality, non-discrimination, and privacy.

• It establishes transformative constitutionalism by affirming that criminal law cannot enforce traditional morality at the expense of individual liberty under Article 21.
• It dismantles gender-discriminatory legal structures that historically treated married women as the property of their husbands.
• It clarifies the limits of state intervention in personal relationships, retaining adultery solely as a valid civil ground for divorce.

UPSC typically frames questions around gender justice, constitutional morality versus societal morality, and the fundamental right to privacy under GS Paper II. Candidates are expected to analyze how colonial-era penal provisions are re-evaluated using constitutional principles of individual autonomy and non-discrimination. Questions may also ask candidates to assess the boundary between state criminalization and civil remedies within family law governance.

• Indian Constitution GS2

• Article 370
• Ayodhya Dispute
• Right to Privacy
• Sabarimala Case
• Section 377
• Triple Talaq