Adultery law

Husband can only make adultery a ground for divorce from wife. Other punishments u/s 497 are for males only.

under criminal law adultery is offence against the husband of the married woman. So if a man(whether married or unmarried) has s*x with a married woman he can be prosecuted but the woman cannot be prosecuted as an abettor. However if a married man has s*x with an unmarried woman, it is not a criminal offence. Mind you, the wife of this man can seek divorce on grounds of adultery.

in the first case although wife cannot be prosecuted as an abettor, husband can file for divorce as has already been mentioned by Anish

women are not to be charged for adultery, even when they are willing and equal participants in the act – hence it has been the subject of various debates, with some contesting that it seems to be ‘protecting’ women, and is therefore, unfair to men

Appreciate inputs from all my learned friends, guess all are not equal in the eyes of the law and its sad

"497. Adultery — Whoever has s*xual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such s*xual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery, and shall be punished with imprisonment of either descripttion for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both. In such case the wife shall not be punishable as an abettor."