Men who commit adultery will go to jail, Indian Supreme Court Rules. The Supreme court in India have passed a ruling that would see husbands who chat on their wives to face up to 3-years imprisonmentThe controversial new law will only apply to a situation where the woman commits suicide from the grieve caused by her husbands adulterous acts. The new law would see a maximum jail time of up to three years for the offender, if found guilty of causing his wife to kill herself.
Merely being intimate would not be punishable by law though, for criminal charges to be brought, it would have to be proved that the woman’s suicide was a direct effect of a full affair. The panel of judges, including Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan, said about the ruling:
“We are of the view that the mere fact that the husband has developed some intimacy with another, during the subsistence of marriage, and failed to discharge his marital obligations, as such would not amount to cruelty.” The judge continued: “But it (the intimacy with the paramour) must be of such a nature as is likely to drive the spouse to commit suicide to fall (outside the law).” The ruling came in the wake of a case where back in 1989 a man married a woman in India, subsequently having an affair with another woman. She apparently developed “feelings of alienation and loss of companionship.” His wife killed herself in 1996. In this particular case the man was not found guilty by the court.
The court said: “We, on facts, found that the alleged extra-marital relationship was not of such a nature as to drive the wife to commit suicide or that A-1 (husband) had ever intended or acted in such a manner which, under normal circumstances, would drive the wife to commit suicide.”
