Babushaan Vs Trupti Case: Can The Actor Be Tried For Adultery?

Bhubaneswar: Will Trupti Satpathy’s allegations of adultery against her husband Babushaan hold during legal scrutiny? While the filmstar has moved Orissa High Court for anticipatory bail, a debate is on what would be the legal implications.

Trupti has accused Babushaan and his co-star Prakruti Mishra of spoiling her marital life. “Trupti has alleged that her husband has been neglecting and torturing her for long and she suspects him of having an extra-marital affair with his co-star,” the actor’s lawyer Dharanidhar Nayak told the media.

A case under Sections 498 (A) (harassment of a married woman by her husband or relatives) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC has been registered against Babushaan at Kharvela police station on the basis of a complaint lodged by Trupti following Saturday’s assault at Satya Nagar in Bhubaneswar over his alleged relationship.

But can the actor be tried by a court for his affair outside marriage?

In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a colonial-era law and ruled that adultery is no longer a crime. The five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said adultery can be a ground for civil issues like divorce, but not a criminal offence and that thinking of adultery as a criminal offence is a retrograde step. It also violated a woman’s right to dignity which infringed upon Article 21 of the Constitution of India, he added.

Previously, any man who had sex with a married woman, without the permission of her husband, was said to have committed a crime under 158-year-old Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code.

The petitioner had argued that it discriminated against men by only holding them liable for extra-marital relationships by considering them to be seducers. It also did not allow women to file a complaint against an adulterous husband. “The law indirectly discriminates against women by holding an erroneous presumption that women are the property of men,” the petitioner had said. In simple words, the husband was solely permitted to prosecute the adulterer.

The government counsel had told the court that diluting adultery laws will impact the sanctity of marriages. “Indian ethos gives paramount importance to the institution and sanctity of marriage. Making adultery legal will hurt marriage bonds,” the counsel had added.

The top court, however, observed that the law cannot “command” married couples to remain loyal to each other for fear of penal punishment. Two individuals may part if one cheats, but to attach criminality to infidelity is going too far, Justice Misra had said  in his separate opinion.

If any aggrieved spouse commits suicide because of life partner’s adulterous relation then it could, however, be treated as an abetment to suicide under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC.

In 2020, a five-judge Review Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde upheld its September 2018 ruling, which decriminalised adultery.

In 2021, however, the SC agreed to examine the Central government’s request to keep adultery a crime in the armed forces. The government had argued that the nature of their duties kept them away from home for long periods and they would be worried about their families engaging in “untoward activity” in their absence if adultery ceased to be an offence.

Lawyer Padmalaya Praharaj told a local channel that the court had scrapped the law to ensure gender quality, but there has been a rise in cases of adultery leading to divorces in the last few years.