Status Of Extra Marital Relationship In India

When someone has sexual contact outside of marriage and leaves the married spouse behind, it has an impact on the marriage, the household, and society as a whole. Criminal provisions have lately been removed from India's adultery laws for good.

Legal provisions:

In accordance with Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code of 1860, "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, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offense of rape, is guilty of the offense of adultery and shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both." In such circumstances, the wife will not be punished as an abettor." The Hon'ble Supreme Court struck down this clause in Joseph Shine v. UOI, 2018 SCC OnLine SC 1676.

Such prejudice became the driving force behind India's repeal of adultery laws. Adultery is no longer a felony following the Supreme Court's 2018 decision. It is still one of the reasons for divorce in India.

India's New Law on Extramarital Affairs

Section 497 is no longer directly menacing under the Indian Penal Code after the Supreme Court overturned it. The current situation with adultery laws in India is summarised below.

• Extramarital affairs are no longer illegal in India
• Except for Muslim rules, all other religious and secular marriage and divorce laws include adultery as a reason for divorce.

Following the decriminalization of adultery, certain higher courts in India accepted a husband's extramarital affairs as cruelty to his wife. However, there is no set rule in this area, and the outcome is determined by the specific facts of the case.

The consequences of extramarital affairs

• Every action has an equal and opposite reaction" (Newton's law of motion) is a principle that science students are familiar with.
• While marital affairs are the most potent weapon against the other spouse, there are additional potential outcomes, as indicated below:
• Marriage is an enduring notion in India. Seeing other people when married is against social conventions. Extramarital affairs severely test the foundation of couples.
  Legally, under the repealed criminal law, a cheating husband in India may face imprisonment. However, it has irreversibly broken up the marriage.
• According to Indian extramarital affairs law, a wife may be imprisoned in the most unusual of circumstances. Since adultery was exempted under the IPC and only punished the male, cruelty laws presuppose only women as victims.
• For the sake of punishing infidelity, Indian family attorneys may use the cruelty laws under Section 498A of the IPC to imprison the husband.

Status of marital relationship in India

Extramarital affairs are not freely acknowledged in India, and there is a stigma associated with them, particularly for women who may be perceived as immoral or bringing shame to their families. In rare situations, it can lead to social isolation and destroy a person's reputation.

Now, the question arises: Is extra marital affair legal? Overall, while extramarital affairs are not prohibited in India, they are not widely acceptable, and individuals who engage in them may face social and legal consequences. Before engaging in such activities, it is critical to examine their emotional influence on all persons involved, as well as the potential consequences.

Society does not approve of live-in relationships, but they are not considered unlawful as long as they are like marriage, i.e. both individuals are of marriageable age and neither has a living spouse. Adultery is against the law. It is a recognized divorce ground and constitutes mental cruelty. Private conduct between consenting individuals cannot justify state involvement, which is required otherwise in circumstances when consent is not present. Marital infidelity is not classified as a crime because of social stigma. Adultery might be motivated by love or lust; it can also be motivated by impulse or the desire for pleasure. Married couples have their equation.

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