Adultery no longer a crime in India

NEW DELHI: Adultery is no longer a crime, India’s top court ruled Thursday, declaring a colonial-era law that punished the offence with jail time unconstitutional and discriminatory against women.

It was the second legal decision this month reflecting a more liberal outlook in Indian society with the Supreme Court having on September 6 scrapped a ban on gay sex dating back to 1861.

Sparking celebrations, the court argued that Section 377 on homosexuality had become "a weapon for harassment" of homosexuals and "history owes an apology to the members of this community and their families". The more than century-old adultery law prescribed that any man who slept with a married woman without her husband’s permission had committed adultery, a crime carrying a five-year prison term in the conservative country.