In Brief
Joseph Shine challenged the constitutional validity of Section 497 IPC, which criminalizes adultery. The Supreme Court, in a 5-judge bench judgment, unanimously struck down the provision as violative of Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution. The Court held that Section 497 treats women as property of their husbands, denying them agency and sexual autonomy. The provision is manifestly arbitrary as it punishes only a man for adultery with a married woman, excludes a married man who has relations with an unmarried woman, and allows the husband's consent to negate the offense. Only husbands can prosecute, not wives. The Court rejected the argument that exempting women from prosecution constitutes protective discrimination under Article 15(3). The judgment emphasizes that adultery, being consensual conduct between adults, falls within protected privacy and dignity under Article 21, and the state should not criminalize such private moral choices. Section 198 CrPC, to the extent it applies to adultery, was also struck down. The earlier precedents in Yusuf Abdul Aziz, Sowmithri Vishnu, and V. Revathi were overruled.
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