Laws should be gender neutral

If wife has another lover other than husband she may file a false marital rape case  or false domestic violence case against husband.

So there should be a stringent gender neutral adultery law.SO that married women become afraid to have extra marital affairs.

Adultery Laws in India

Adultery is a voluntary consensual relationship between a married individual and someone who is not his/her lawful spouse. Adultery is considered as legally wrong and is a punishable offense. The act of adultery is a crime which breaches the marriage vows and is detrimental to public morals. It is regarded as illegal in some countries and certain laws have been passed to keep a check over adultery. Although adultery is not a criminal offense, it may have legal consequences and the individual concerned may be penalized and punished especially if the case is pertaining to divorce.

History: In ancient Greece and Roman world, there were harsh laws against adultery but these were applicable only if the female was married. But these laws were not relevant if a man maintained s*xual relationship with a slave or an unmarried female. The Bible too forbids adultery and the seventh commandment clearly states this. In customary Judaism, both the parties were equally responsible for adultery but it applied only if the female partner was married. Lord Jesus also abhorred adultery and considered that even looking at a female lustfully is equivalent to adultery.

According to ancient Hindu laws, only the felonious female were punished and killed while the husbands were considered equal to god and were left off with warnings only.

Adultery laws: The legal definition of adultery varies from country to country. Laws related to adultery vary from statute to statute and at some places adultery is considered a crime and the adulterer may even have to face death penalty while at some places it is not punishable. In few statutes, if either individual is married to someone else, both parties to an adulterous liaison are culpable to the crime. Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Hindu traditions condemn the act of adultery and in Islam; the adulterers especially the female may be stoned to death. According to Indian jurisdiction, the adultery law comes under Section 497 of the Indian penal code. There are two laws pertaining to adultery:-

Section-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.”

Section-498- Enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a married woman“Whoever takes or entices any woman who is and whom he knows or has reasons to believe to be the wife of any other man, from that man, or from any person having the care of her on behalf of that man, with intent that she may have illicit intercourse with any person or conceals or detains with that intent any such woman, shall be punished with imprisonment of either descripttion for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both”.

Our society abominates marital infidelity and these laws have been passed to maintain and preserve the sanctity of marriage.

Your quest has been answered by respected senior learned counsel Mr. Sainath Devalla. 

There can be two types of adultery. 1. A married or unmarried man having s*xual relations with wife of another. 2. A woman married or unmarried having s*xual relations with the husband of another. Under IPC or any other law in India only the former is an offense. Even there the offense is by the man only and not by the woman. The latter is no offence at all. The laws are not gender neutral to that extent. IPC 497 is more than 150 years old. There were no women's emancipation movements in 1860. Still why did the law allow the woman to go scot free. I had traced, elsewhere in one of the posts, the history of IPC 497 and why Lord Macaulay allowed drafting of such a section. Our Supreme Court which intrudes right and left into what are the prerogatives of the Parliament has left  section; 497 untouched. It is high time that law on adultery is made gender neutral.

The law on rape is not gender neutral due to the physical nature of s*xual intercourse. A man can force himself on an unwilling woman, but vice versa is not possible. If a woman has to force herself on a man, the latter has to get aroused. Once he gets aroused it falls into the realm of consensual relationships. A relationship with a minor even if it consensual is rape. The consensual relationship between an adult woman and minor boy is covered under the Child Protection Acts.

A relationship which is forced by an adult woman on an adult man short of s*xual intercourse can be made punishable. In fact under the amended definition of rape after the Nirbhaya episode even a woman can rape a man.