NEW DELHI: The MP's Parliamentary Committee has submitted a report to the Central Government rejecting the Supreme Court ruling that termed adultery as not a criminal offence. The committee demanded that the offence be reinstated with amendments and be included in the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita brought by the Center to replace the IPC. Earlier, according to Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, only a man was prosecuted for having an extramarital affair with another’s wife. There was no action against women in this section.

However, the parliamentary committee demanded that both men and women should be liable under the ambit of the case. According to the report of the Home Ministry Standing Committee, marriage is sacred and should be protected.

Meanwhile, Congress leader P Chidambaram was the sole dissenting voice in the parliamentary committee as he said the state had no business with how marriages work in India. In 2018, Section 497 was repealed by the Supreme Court in a landmark judgement. The court said Adultery can be a civil offence for considering divorce but said was never a criminal offence. The court called it 'archaic' that colonial law followed the notion of considering the husband as the master while the wife was the inferior among the two.

The Supreme Court has earlier ruled homosexuality as not any criminal offence and termed it consensual. At the same time, the court said that non-consensual illicit relations such as abuse of minors should be criminalized to be included in the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.