Delhi HC Cites Draupadi, Says ‘Women Aren’t Property’ As Husband Files Case Over Infidelity

In a significant ruling, the Delhi High Court has acquitted a man accused of adultery, drawing on references from the Mahabharata to highlight the perils of treating women as property.

Justice Nina Bansal Krishna cited the incident where Yudhishthira gambled away Draupadi, which led to the epic war, underscoring the persistent misogyny in society.

The case dates back to a 2010 complaint wherein a husband alleged that his wife was involved in an adulterous relationship with the accused. The husband claimed his wife would go to the park under the pretext of exercising after dinner and alleged she had sexual relations with the man in a Lucknow hotel, posing as husband and wife without his consent.

Justice Krishna’s judgment noted that the Mahabharata provides a clear lesson on the dangers of viewing women as property, a lesson only truly internalised when the Supreme Court repealed the adultery law.

In the landmark case of Joseph Shine vs Union of India in September 2018, the Supreme Court declared Section 497 of the IPC unconstitutional. This section previously allowed only men to be prosecuted for having sexual relations with a married woman without her husband’s consent, thereby treating husbands as owners and women as property.

Justice Krishna emphasised that the Mahabharata documented the disastrous consequences of treating women as husbands’ property. She pointed out that Draupadi was gambled away by her husband while her four brothers remained silent spectators, leaving her without a voice to defend her dignity. This incident precipitated a great war and widespread destruction.

The acquitted man had filed a petition in the High Court challenging a 2018 city court order that summoned him for trial. In her petition, the accused argued that the lower court had relied solely on the husband’s allegations, disregarding the documentary evidence.