“It stands to reason”

What does? That if the law against adultery prescribes punishment for the man involved in, well, an adulterous relationship, the law should be amended to prescribe punishment for the woman too. What does not stand to reason is the fact that adultery is a punishable ‘offense’. The only (partly) sane voice on the issue, as raised in this front page TOI article is this one-

But women’s rights activist and lawyer Flavia Agnes said, “Adultery should be deleted as an offence. Making wives and single women criminally liable for adultery would be a retrograde step at cross-purposes with Domestic Violence Act, and will only make life miserable for women who may have got into an illicit relationship as victims of circumstance or inducement.”

The insane voices as always, belong to our politicians and our courts-

The Supreme Court upheld Section 497 in 1985, saying “the wife involved in an illicit relationship with another man is a victim and not the author of the crime…adultery is an offence against the sanctity of the matrimonial home, an act which is committed by a man, as it generally is. Those men who defile such sanctity are brought within the net of the law…”

Morality is outside the purview of law – at least in civilized societies. But since we are essentially a tribal society full of pretentious barbarians prone to voyeurism, it stands to reason that the State will peep into bedrooms. That explains IPC S497, and IPC S377. Actually it explains most of the Indian Penal Code.