Dear Experts,
Today Hon'ble Supreme Court of India struck down section 487 under final paragraph as under (Full Judgement also attached)
In view of the aforesaid discussion, and the anomalies in Section 497, as enumerated in para 11 above, it is declared that :
(i) Section 497 is struck down as unconstitutional being violative of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.
(ii) Section 198(2) of the Cr.P.C. which contains the procedure for prosecution under Chapter XX of the I.P.C. shall be unconstitutional only to the extent that it is applicable to the offence of Adultery under Section 497. (
iii) The decisions in Sowmithri Vishnu (supra), V. Rewathi (supra) and W. Kalyani (supra) hereby stand overruled.
Now please advise what about the cases where conviction made in lower court and case is at appealate stage? Whether accused will get benefit of the above decision and case will be dismissed as section 497 has been struck down?
Please advise
Regards,
Dhiraj Srivastava
