SRINAGAR: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has intervened to stay a Jammu court order requiring the registration of a First Information Report (FIR). The FIR, issued in October 2023, included charges of “adultery” among other offences, despite the Supreme Court deeming the adultery law unconstitutional in 2018.
Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal expressed the view that a prima facie case justifying a stay on the October 2023 order by a judicial magistrate in Jammu had been established.
The Court, therefore, stayed the order, summoned the relevant records of the case for perusal and issued notice in the matter.
The plea presented to the Court contested the October 27, 2023 order by the 2nd additional Munsiff, Jammu. This order mandated the registration of an FIR, citing offences under Sections 120-A (criminal conspiracy), 312 (causing miscarriage), 313 (causing miscarriage without a woman’s consent), 497 (adultery), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code.
Among those accused in the case were relatives of the implicated man.
“In respect of the now struck down offence of ‘adultery’ under Section 497 of the IPC, the FIR was ordered to be registered, despite the Supreme Court declaring the provision as unconstitutional,” argued the counsel for the petitioners.
In response, the family members (petitioners) filed a petition with the High Court to annul the magistrate’s October 2023 order. They argued that the complaint was false and baseless, asserting that they had been unnecessarily embroiled in criminal proceedings. (BarandBench)
