Supreme Court’s recent ruling on adultery has raised many eyebrows. Supreme Court has struck down section 497 which states that it is a criminal offense for a man to have sex with another man’s wife, without the consent of her husband. The rule, so far, only criminalised the man committing adultery, not the woman who has consensual sex with him. Thus, it is not gender-neutral, and consequently, it violates the equality provision in Article 14 of the Constitution. Now does decriminalizing this rule means men have the license to do anything?
Well, somebody seems to be enjoying this freedom in the wrong way. It happened in Chennai, where Pushpalatha, 24, ended her life by hanging at the couple’s MGR Nagar residence after her husband admitted to adultery and said that it is no more a crime. It seems the ruling has paved a way for many men who used to have illegal illicit relations with partners other than then legally wedded wives. Pushpa committed suicide around 10.30pm on Saturday.
The MGR Nagar police were shocked when the husband confessed what he told to his deceased wife apart from a suicide note including the same reason was recovered from the house. The police have sent the woman’s body to the Government Royapettah Hospital for postmortem. The husband’s name is John Paul Franklin who is 27 years old and works as a security guard at a park maintained by Greater Chennai Corporation. It was a love marriage that happened amidst the protest of families from both sides.
As per the Police version, John developed the affair when his wife was suffering from tuberculosis. John kept away from her when she was taking the treatment and got closer to his lover. He initially stopped giving money to his wife to run the chores in the house and then coming late to home became a habit. He also used to stay with the other woman. In a confrontation, John admitted to having an extra affair. When the wife threatened to go to the police, he said it is no more a crime and Pushpa found no other way but to die.
Post Your Comments