Ananyaa Varma, Bennett University
ABSTRACT
“In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.” – Emmanuel Kant
The concept of adultery, has always been a matter of conflict as it oscillates between the societal pressure of having conventional and moral values on one hand, and individual happiness on another. It is this undertaking that has been subject to decriminalising in 2018 by the hon’ble Indian judges in the landmark judgement of Joseph Shine v Union of India1 and marked adultery as a civil offense, only amounting as a ground for divorce. Decriminalising adultery and delivering the landmark judgement in 2018 had its repercussions as it altered the social fabric of the society and no new gender- neutral grounds prohibiting this element which promotes disloyalty and harms the sanctity of marriage and integrity of the society as a whole, were introduced.
The object of my study is to achieve the realisation of the existence of a gap in the judicial system when it comes to the concept of adultery, to analyse the verdict of Joseph Shine v Union of India and provide with the counter- arguments, to introduce new measures along with exceptions that should be undertaken which could help smoothen the disruption caused due to the act of adultery at a macro-level, along with concentrating on gender neutral laws that take a step towards creating an egalitarian India.
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