Armed forces can act against officers for adultery, says Supreme Court

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 31

The armed forces can take disciplinary action against its officers for adulterous conduct as the Supreme Court on Tuesday clarified that its historic 2018 Constitution Bench verdict that decriminalised adultery was not about the provisions of laws relating to them.

Discipline first

If you are going to have an Army with completely loose morals, then what will happen to the discipline. Military discipline will be affected. Supreme court

According to Article 33 of the Constitution, the laws governing the armed forces can provide exemptions from the applicability of fundamental rights, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice KM Joseph clarified.

“We must observe and clarify that the judgment of this court was not at all concerned with the effect and provisions of the Armed Forces Act. This court was neither called upon nor has it ventured to pronounce on effect of Section 45 and Section 63 of the Army Act as also the corresponding provisions of the other Acts (the Navy Act and the Air Force Act),” said the Bench, which also included Justice Ajay Rastogi, Justice Aniruddha Bose, Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice C T Ravikumar.

The Ministry of Defence had sought an exemption to the armed forces from the application of the September 27, 2018, verdict that struck down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (adultery). The MoD said it might come in the way of taking action against officers indulging in such actions and could potentially cause “instability” in the services.

Acting on a petition filed by NRI Joseph Shine, the Supreme Court had declared Section 497 of the IPC unconstitutional. A five-judge Constitution Bench led by the then CJI Dipak Misra said the Victorian-era law was “manifestly arbitrary”.

“This (Section 497 IPC) treats the woman as a chattel. It treats her as the property of man and totally subservient to the will of the master,” the top court had said.

“The enforcement of forced female fidelity by curtailing sexual autonomy is an affront to the fundamental right to dignity and equality,” it said.

However, the SC had said adultery would be a ground for divorce in matrimonial proceedings and cautioned that the verdict should not be taken as a licence to indulge in such acts.

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