Explanation:

The Supreme Court (SC) decriminalized the offence of adultery by holding Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 198(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure as unconstitutional.The Supreme Court’s observations :

• Equality of spouses: Marriage in a constitutional regime is founded on the equality of and between spouses. Each of them is entitled to the same liberty, which Part III [of the Constitution] guarantees. Therefore, not affording both parties to a marriage equal rights and opportunities would be discriminatory and a violation of their right to equality.
• Section 497 of IPC led to commodification of women since it treated a woman as a property of her husband as it was not an offence of adultery if the husband consented to his wife's adulterous relationship with another man.
• The section was violative of Article 14 as the purported sanctity of marriage was not hurt if a married man was involved in an adulterous relationship.
• Civil remedy already available: The court observed that the issue of adultery between spouses was a private matter and could be a ground for divorce under civil law. It did not warrant the use of criminal sanction against any party involved.
• Violation of privacy: The Court held that even then the matter was private and anything otherwise would be a grave intrusion into the privacy of individuals. The Court even relied on K.S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India Case to explain this deprivation of autonomy as a violation of their right to privacy and to live with dignity, thus violating their fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• Patriarchy: The Court held that Section 497, as it existed, denied women ownership of their sexuality and agency over their own relationships.

Following the Supreme Court intervention, adultery is now a civil matter between individuals. But a criminal residue remains i.e. Section 306 of the IPC will be invoked if a suicide results from adultery.