Leader Online Desk : Consensual extramarital sex between two adults is not a punishable offence, the Rajasthan High Court recently observed. Justice Birendra Kumar rejected the husband's plea seeking action against the accused in this case, who had kidnapped his wife. (Sex outside marriage not an offence: Rajasthan High Court)
Court should exercise its jurisdiction : Petitioner husband's demand
In 2021, the husband filed a complaint at the Bharatpur police station that his wife had been kidnapped by three people. A petition demanding action against the concerned was also filed in the Rajasthan High Court. A hearing was held before single bench judge Birendra Kumar. The husband's counsel argued that the complainant's wife had confessed to the extra-marital affair. He demanded that the court should use its jurisdiction in this matter to protect social morality. (Sex outside marriage not an offence: Rajasthan High Court)
Wife appears in court, admits to living in 'live-in'
This time, the wife, who claimed to have been kidnapped by her husband, appeared in the court. She said that she was not kidnapped. He also clarified that he was living in a consensual live-in relationship.
Crime of adultery declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court: Justice Birendra Kumar
Justice Birendra Kumar explained that adultery is an offense under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC); But in 2018, the Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional. It is true that in Indian society only married couples should have physical relations, but it is not a crime when two adults voluntarily have sex outside of marriage. An adult living in a live-in relationship with another person after marriage does not fall under the category of offense under Section 494 of the IPC. “Neither of them remarried while their spouses were alive, so unless the marriage is pleaded and proved, a mere live-in-relationship like marriage does not fall within the ambit of section 494 IPC,” the court dismissed the husband's plea observing.
Adults having sex outside marriage is not an offence: Rajasthan High Court
report by @satyendra_w https://t.co/XZ7ejqjRZb
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