Page 46 - English Tehelka Issue 3&4

column

home but against the husband
himself. The way a person is not India’s policy gets more
expected to enter the property of
the other without his consent, no
man is, likewise, expected to have realistic with Pakistan
sexual intercourse with someone’s
wife without his consent. It uses the
same analogy that is used for the Indo-Pak enmity, largely a result of the ISI’s obsession with it’s
offence of trespass.
SPECTRAVISION Hindu-majority neighbour, has a new challenge to face with New
Decriminalizing Adultery HarcHaran Delhi’s transformation from victim to vocal critic
Marriage is both sacrament and a
civil contract. The spouses are and Bains
should be at liberty to choose their ubramaniam Swamy, seems to have abandoned the inno-
own terms of the contract. The The writer, an eminent the mercurial Indian cence of an ‘aggrieved and victimised
National Commission for Women columnist and freelance politician, said the other state’ and this transformation has not
recommends that adultery should journalist, has been day that India should by come abut with either Narendra Modi
be made merely a civil wrong and a five-time Advisor to March this year be able to or Ajit Doval even though one cannot
the SC impliedly agrees that the Punjab Chief Minister S “Balkanize” Pakistan into deny that the two have been more vocal
not punish women for adultery and erred in the past? husband and the wife should not Parkash Singh Badal. four parts. Not many would really take than their predecessors on preferring
policies could not be questioned. Considering the limited question strike each other with the weap- He writes regularly Swamy with any degree of seriousness realism to idealism.
Secondly, that it was not contem- of constitutional validity before it, onry of criminal law. for the English and when he talks of things which are not But then, what is really worrying
plated for a husband and a wife the ‘object’ of Section 497 was never Many western countries have regional newspapers a part of the declared state policy. And India about Pakistan — beyond the risk
to strike each other with weapon agitated before the Supreme Court. already decriminalised adultery. and journals his remarks about Pakistan would have of another disguised incursion into
of criminal law and that adultery The Court has, therefore, erred It is not a crime in most countries served for nothing more than a little bit Kashmir by our neighbour’s uniformed
therefore was an offence against to the limited extent of holding of the European Union, including of political amusement in the country. establishment? To be frank, India seems
the matrimonial home. adultery as an offence against the Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, But amusement must have been far to have gone beyond worrying about
It must be conceded that all these matrimonial home. Finland, Sweden and even Britain from the thoughts of the Pakistani Pakistan as New Delhi is now focused
decisions had restricted their scope If adultery had been a matrimo- from whom we have borrowed establishment when Swamy’s words more on its global positioning than on
to the determination of constitu- nial offence, the husband would most of our laws. In the United were echoed by none other than India’s the dangers from the Western borders.
tional validity of Section 497 as it neither have had the freedom to States, in those states where adul- National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit This is a new realistic dimension,
stood on the statute book. These indulge in extramarital sexual rela- tery is still on the statute books, Doval’s ominous warning to our West- one that started in the latter half of
should not, however, be construed tions with unmarried women nor offenders are seldom prosecuted. ern neighbour, “One more Mumbai, and Vajpayee’s regime and continued at an
to assume whether Section 497 is would the consent of the husband The object of making adultery you lose Balochistan.” As if that were even greater speed during the tenure of
required at all or not. of the woman make any differ- an offence in India and restricting not enough, Prime Minister Narendra Dr Manmohan Singh. It has now gained
Adultery cannot be committed ence. Adultery therefore is not an it to men alone was to deter men Modi himself mounted the ramparts a more ‘vocal’ momentum, and that may
without a woman’s consent. Yet, the offence against the matrimonial from taking advantage of women of the Red Fort last year to announce not be a bad thing at all if India’s main
Section burdens the man alone for who were historically treated as the that he had been receiving letters full concern is to ensure peace in the region.
the offence. Though the reasons for victims and not the authors of the of friendly and even brotherly warmth The fact is that diplomacy and foreign
this may be justifiable, the woman Marriage is a crime. The definition of adultery in from the people of Balochistan. policy works in ways quite contrary to
here is always treated as a victim. matrimonial laws is much wider in A stable Pakistan, This has got Pakistan worried, but how politics works. Indira Gandhi had
The Section, however, does not civil contract and scope than the definition of adul- then, that precisely must have been the said immediately after the Bangladesh
contemplate a situation where the tery as a crime. Women have now even as an enemy, intention behind Doval’s and the PM’s war that she had ensured peace with
same married woman has sexual spouses are at begun to assert their own iden- words. And the reason for those words Pakistan for the next three decades. In
intercourse with more than one liberty to choose tity and are no more mere chattel. suits India more is not India’s sudden and new-found fact, peace has lasted much longer. The
person without her husband’s There is apparently no reason to than a friendly but interest in Balkanising what remains two countries have not gone to war with
consent. It is highly plausible that their own terms. retain adultery on the penal statute of Pakistan after 1971. The real reason each other since 1971 — Kargil being
even in such a situation the woman Adultery should book since our personal laws are troubled Pakistan. is the impatience in New Delhi with just a one-sided incursion that India
would be treated as the victim and adequate to tackle adultery as a civil ‘Balkanization’ terrorism continuing to bleed the ensured ended in an embarrassment
not the person who provokes the be made merely a wrong. As it appears, the SC looks Indian state even beyond Jammu and to the aggressor. But the international
offender. No doubt that the con- civil wrong rather all set to look back to move forward of Pakistan is Kashmir. Pakistan denies any hand in border between Indian and Pakistan
tours of the existing law need to be in tune with the changing milieu the last thing Uri or Pathankot. But that no longer has remained quiet since 1971 — in fact,
re-redrawn. than a criminal worldwide. worries India. It used to, but now it since 1965, as even 1971 was merely a
offence that suits India’s doesn’t seem to. desperate Pakistani adventure more to
The reason for that is India’s foreign
Why has the Supreme Court letters@tehelka.com security concerns policy reaching new levels of realism. It save face on its eastern humiliation than
to really pose any danger to India.

Tehelka / 28 february 2018 46 www.Tehelka.com Tehelka / 28 february 2018 47 www.Tehelka.com

44-46 Column-Ashok Yadav.indd 4 12/02/18 3:47 PM 47-49 Bains Spectravision.indd 1 12/02/18 3:48 PM