Is Adultery a Crime in India? What the Law Says in 2026

No, adultery is not a crime in India. The Supreme Court struck down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code on 27 September 2018 in Joseph Shine v. Union of India. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which replaced the IPC from 1 July 2024, has no adultery offence. Nobody, man or woman, can be sent to jail only for adultery.

Adultery still has legal effects. It is a ground for divorce under the marriage laws, it can affect a wife's claim to maintenance, and members of the armed forces can face disciplinary action for it.

This page explains each point in plain words. It is general information, not legal advice. For your own case, speak to a family lawyer.

What Did the Old Section 497 Say?

Section 497 IPC was a law from 1860. It punished a man who had sex with another man's wife without that husband's consent. The punishment could go up to five years in jail, a fine, or both.

The law had odd features that most people did not know:

• Only the man could be punished. The wife could not be punished, not even as an abettor.
• Only the husband of the woman could file the complaint. A wife could not complain against her husband.
• If the husband consented, it was not an offence at all.

So the law treated the wife as if she belonged to her husband. That is exactly what the Supreme Court objected to.

The Joseph Shine Judgment of 2018

Joseph Shine filed a petition in 2017 asking the court to strike down Section 497. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra heard it. On 27 September 2018 all five judges agreed, in four separate opinions, that Section 497 was unconstitutional.

The judges said the section was arbitrary, treated women as the property of their husbands and went against their dignity. They struck down Section 497, and also the part of the Criminal Procedure Code that let only the husband file an adultery complaint. The Supreme Court Observer's case page has the background and the later orders.

The judges were also clear that adultery can still be a civil wrong and a ground for divorce. Decriminalising it did not make it acceptable in the eyes of the law. It only took it out of criminal law.

Is Adultery a Crime Under the BNS?

No. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 came into force on 1 July 2024 and replaced the IPC. It has no section that punishes adultery.

When the bill was studied, Parliament's Standing Committee on Home Affairs suggested bringing adultery back as a gender-neutral crime, so that a man or a woman could be punished. PRS Legislative Research's summary of the committee report records that recommendation. The government did not add it, and the BNS was passed without an adultery offence.

The BNS does keep a related offence in its chapter on marriage. Section 84 punishes a person who entices, takes away or detains a married woman with the intent that she has illicit sex with someone. This is not the same as adultery between two consenting adults, and it is used rarely.

Is Adultery a Crime in India for Women?

It never was. Under the old Section 497, a wife could not be punished at all. Many people still believe that a husband can "file a case" against his wife for adultery. He cannot, and since 2018 he cannot file one against the other man either.

What he can do is ask for a divorce on the ground of adultery, which is a civil case in the family court. A wife has the same right against her husband.

Adultery as a Ground for Divorce

Every major marriage law in India allows a divorce on the ground of adultery:

The words in the Hindu Marriage Act are on India Code. One act of voluntary sex outside the marriage is enough as a ground. The old rule that the spouse must be "living in adultery" was changed in 1976.

Muslim divorce works differently, with talaq, khula and the grounds in the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act. Our page on the Muslim divorce process covers it.

Proof is the hard part. Courts rarely get direct evidence, so they look at the circumstances: hotel bills, messages, photos, a child born when the husband had no access. Collect evidence only in legal ways. Reading a spouse's phone without permission or putting a tracker on their car can create a separate legal problem for you.

A divorce on any fault ground, adultery included, is a contested case and usually takes years. Our guide to contested divorce in India explains the steps. If both of you agree to part, mutual consent is faster, and the reason does not need to be proved.

Does Adultery Affect Maintenance?

It can. Under Section 144(4) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (earlier Section 125(4) of the CrPC), a wife who is "living in adultery" is not entitled to maintenance from her husband under that section.

Courts read "living in adultery" as a continuing relationship, not a single lapse. A one-time affair proved in a divorce case does not automatically end a wife's maintenance. Children's maintenance is a separate right and does not depend on either parent's conduct.

The Army Exception

On 31 January 2023 a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court clarified that the Joseph Shine judgment does not stop the armed forces from taking disciplinary action against their own members for adultery. The Union government had asked for this because the Armed Forces Tribunal had been setting aside such cases.

So a soldier, sailor or airman, man or woman, can still face action under the Army Act, the Navy Act or the Air Force Act for an affair, usually as "unbecoming conduct" or conduct against good order and discipline. This is service discipline, not a crime under the BNS.

Some other government service rules also treat certain conduct in private life as misconduct. If you are a government employee, read your own conduct rules.