Victims of Adultery: Ravikant Pandey and Jatin Rathore (left to right: Crime Tak)
With rising Westernisation, there have been scores of instances that have never been a part of Bharatiya society, which believes in families and ethos. This week, some shocking cases have been reported from the Hindi heartlands of the country. In these cases, women and their paramours killed their family members either to hide their secrets or to get rid of them. Adultery is becoming a grave problem in society, and this article sheds light on the same.
Case 1: Mother killed her 3-year-old son to keep her boyfriend’s secret intact
In what is called the unimaginable, a mother killed her own 3-year-old son in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district to hide her relationship’s truth from her husband.
A police constable Dhyan Singh was married to Jyoti Rathore, the couple had a beautiful son, 3-year-old Jatin Rathore aka Sunny. They all made a beautiful family, other than the Madhya Pradesh police service, Dhyan Singh had a plastic material shop in Gwalior. The family had everything they needed.
Fate had some other plans. With Dhyan’s work, Jyoti came in contact with neighbour Uday Indoliya and they had an affair.
On April 28, while Dhyan Singh was busy with the inauguration of his new store, Jyoti and Uday went upstairs. They were in an intimate moment when Jyoti’s son, Sunny arrived on the terrace.
Though he was just 3-year-old, Jyoti feared he would spill the beans and soon she grabbed him and threw him off the terrace. The house they live in is double storied and falling from such a tall building had led to severe head injuries to the child. The family believed he had fallen off on his own and rushed to the hospital, hanging between life and death, the child was declared dead by the doctors on April 29.
The couple were steadily getting over the biggest loss of their life until Jyoti confessed to her crime. Recently, she shared with her husband how she was behind her child’s death. It has been reported that she would dream of Sunny and spend many sleepless nights before confessing to her crime.
Dhyan Singh recorded her wife’s statement both in video and written format and presented it before the Thatipur police station. Subsequently, an FIR was registered against both Jyoti and Uday and they were arrested by the police.
Case 2: Priyanka with lover Anas Hashmi, killed husband Ravikant Pandey
Cases involving Muslim men luring minor and unmarried women for conversion have become an everyday affair, but in a recent case from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, a married woman was trapped in the same. She was groomed to the extent that she decided to kill her own husband for the Muslim man.
Notably, Priyanka and Ravikant Pandey were a married couple. Ravikant worked in a factory in Guajart’s Rajkot and hence mostly stayed away from her. She met Anas Hashmi at her home as he was a good friend of Ravikant. Hashmi is native of Machariya Barkati Masjid area.
After Ravikant left, Hashmi started visiting Priyanka frequently. His visits drove them close and they became lovers. Soon, their secret became a topic of discussion in the village and the locals informed Ravikant about it. Upon learning the truth, Ravikant returned home, 15 days ago.
He confronted Priyanka and asked her to stay away from Hahmi. Instead of being ashamed of her act, she was irked over her husband’s decision. She was so madly in love with Hashmi that they planned Ravikant’s murder.
As per the plan, Priyanka and Hashmi stopped talking to each other and behaved as if nothing had ever happened. As per the plan, Hashmi met Ravikant, and they drank alcohol on September 1. Under the influence of alcohol, Hashmi took him to Hanspuram, near Gangapur. Where he took out a surgical knife from his pocket and slit his throat.
As per the police, after the murder, Anas came to meet Priyanka all soaked in blood. He held her hands, so Priyanka’s hands also had her husband’s blood on them. After washing their hands and face, both of them stopped for some time and went to their homes. Then, at around 10:30, Priyanka informed her family about her husband’s disappearance.
After the disappearance of security guard Ravikant, mother Shakuntala, Sushil Pandey, his brother and other family members first raised suspicion on the wife. Family members had told the police that Priyanka had relations with many people, including her husband’s friend Anas. Because of this, she stays away from home. On the basis of Priyanka’s call details and interrogation of the people of the locality, the police first picked up Anas and disclosed the murder case.
It is pertinent to mention that these are not the only cases there are many, with adultery not being a crime in India these women go unpunished.
What is adultery?
Adultery is an act committed by a married spouse wherein the married spouse commits consensual sexual activity with a partner other than his spouse.
Section 497 described Adultery as: “Whoever has sexual 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 sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery, and shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both. In such a case, the wife shall not be punishable as an abettor”.
This law did not allow married women to file a complaint against their husbands having sexual relationships with other women. This law was incorporated solely for the husband of a married woman to prosecute the man she is having an affair with.
Is adultery a crime in India?
Adultery was considered a serious crime in India, and hence there were provisions relating to Adultery under Section 497 of the IPC. The act of adultery was charged with imprisonment for five years, or fine, or both.
On September 27th, 2018, in the case of Joseph Shine v. Union of India, the Supreme Court of India struck down the 158-year-old Victorian morality law on adultery. Now, it is no longer considered a crime.
The court held that adultery could be, Adultery only as a ground for divorce. AND should not be treated as a criminal offence.
Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that the 150-year-old law on adultery is unconstitutional, which treats husbands as masters of their wives. Section 497 of the IPC is categorically and conspicuously arbitrary and absurd because it gives unlimited rights to the husband to deal with the wife as he pleases, which is very disproportionate.
Notably, in 2017, Joseph Shine, a non-resident Keralite, moved before a five-judge constitution bench under Article 32 of the Constitution of India challenging the adultery laws of India. Shine in the case had liberally quoted women rights activist Mary Wollstonecraft, and former UN secretary Kofi Anna to highlight his views on women’s rights and equality. However, the BJP members opposed the petition by putting forth that diluting adultery laws would impact the sanctity of marriages and would hurt marriage bonds.
In 2018, a five-judge SC bench unanimously struck down Section 497 of IPC after holding it to be violative of Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution of India.
The bench held adultery is more of a personal issue and does not fit under the definition of “Crime” since it would otherwise invade the extreme privacy of marriage. It is up to the husband and wife to decide what to do after adultery is committed, as it is a matter that should only be left to their discretion. Hence, declaring adultery as a crime would creep injustice into the system.
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