Condonation of Adultery in Indian Marriage
In legal parlance, when you blot out an offence, it is called as an act of condonation. Let’s use an example to illustrate this concept better.
Example of Condonation of Adultery in India
Suppose Tom and Mary are a happily married couple but Mary commits adultery. Tom finds out and they talk things over, forgive each other and Tom decides that he loves Mary too much to hold this against her. So, he forgives her on the condition that she will not commit adultery again.
Legally, this ‘forgiveness’ by Tom amounts to condonation of adultery. By doing this, Tom restores the same position and normalcy to his relationship with Mary as it was before he found out about adultery. Now, if Tom wants to divorce or seek a marriage annulment at a later point of time, he cannot use Mary’s adultery as a ground for divorce simply because he condoned it. However, if Mary commits adultery again with another person, Tom can seek a decree of dissolution for marriage on the ground of uncondoned adultery against the one with whom Mary committed adultery.
Simply put, condonation is conditional forgiveness of an offending spouse. In India, condonation of adultery is considered to be as a question of fact, not of law.
Here are some legal facts about condonation of adultery in India:
- Condonation is not so strictly construed against a wife as it is against a husband.
- If condonation is not indicated in the pleadings made before the court, the court will take note of the necessary details and the judge can deal with the issues pertaining to it.
- If both spouses have committed adultery and separated, neither of them will be able to seek a decree for restitution of conjugal rights against the other. This means that if both Tom and Mary committed adultery and separated, neither of them can seek a court’s decree for restoring their conjugal rights in the marriage. The courts will not entertain such claims when both parties are guilty of breaching the marriage vows and thereby, waived their marital rights with one another.
This is interesting...
Adultary is never acceptable, and forgiving the spouse is a great deal. Yet divorce is again not acceptable and that isn't the solution.
Marriages are made to live together for each other in times of richness & poverty, pink of health & sickness.... Since one committed a mistake i don't entertain the other committing a mistake but seeking for a divorce.
Divorce is just an excuse and a escapism. it states that the concerned person doesn't want to be responsible for the other.
If marriage is the result of Love and Trust, there should be no question for divorce.
Extreme cases are acceptable which are life threatening.
Yes, it definitely is and we are glad to know that you liked it too. Do continue sharing your suggestions and feedback with us, thanks.
Legally yours,
LIG Team
Actually, for the offence of adultery, it is the wife only who can prosecute the ofender husband.Thus if the wife has forgiven the offender husband, the prosecution can not take place and the result is that the offender is forgiven.
@Praveen: You are right in stating that only the wife can prosecute the husband for adultery under IPC or criminal law but in personal laws, there is no such gender discrimination.
@Anisha: Marriages should be based on love and trust but in India, many socio-economic factors have begun to change this foundation and pave the way for serious dispute that challenge the trust factor between a husband and wife. Our attempt on LIG is to create public awareness on these issues so that better sense and logic prevails and marriages are restored to the natural order of trust, mutual respect and understanding. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Anisha.
Hello! Can anyone please share some information on the following:
1. Is adultery a punishable offense under the civil laws or matrimonial laws or is it just 497 IPC that deals with it? Please lead me to the right ACT or provision, if any.
2. I have read somewhere that punishing women fora adultery can prove to be harmful for them since it can be mis-used by their in-laws in tarnishing their image . Valid as it sounds, how can the genuinely guilty women adulterers be adderssed? Shouldn't they be punished appropriately?
3. Why does the definition of adultery in section 497 of IPC include cases where adultery is being done with unmarried people?
Dear Monalisa,
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Legally yours,
LawIsGreek team.
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