The Supreme Court has made it clear that it will not make adultery a gender-neutral crime. The apex court will now examine whether Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution on the Right to Equality. The bench will also examine whether a person can be sent to jail on the grounds that he had consensual sex with another person's wife. The centre had filed an affidavit opposing a pil that seeks to make men and women equally liable for the crime of adultery. The current law criminalises consensual sex between a man and the wife of another man. But under this law, a woman can neither be charged with adultery for consenting to the sex, nor can a woman file a case of adultery against her spouse or his paramour.