Bengaluru: Former SP, Bengaluru (Rural) Bheemashankar S. Guled is perhaps the first serving IPS officer in Karnataka to be charged with adultery under Sec 497 of the IPC in the recent past. The government on Tuesday transferred Guled without posting after some TV channels flashed a video clipping – an alleged selfie – of him in a compromising position with the wife of Suresh - a techie from Davangere. Since adultery is a non cognizable offence Suresh had to file a complaint in the court.
The court took cognizance of his NCR (non cognizable offence report) complaint and directed the police to register and investigate the case. A complaint was registered under Sec. 497 IPC.
The IPS fraternity has, meanwhile, washed their hands off the 2012 batch IPS officer for committing an act of "moral turpitude" (an act that is contrary to set standards of justice, honesty and good morals of a community) and bringing disrepute to the police department. “Though there is no criminality in an act of adultery, it is a case of moral turpitude. Guled's alleged action has further dented the public image of the police," said an officer.
Another officer said under the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, the government after receiving a preliminary report from the office of the DG&IGP may institute a departmental inquiry against the officer. “Guled has been transferred without posting. He can be on paid leave for the next six months with no accountability. It will send a wrong message to the department,” he said.
Criticism apart, the officers are questioning as to why Guled, a professionally "sound" officer, created an evidence of his alleged extramarital affair by taking explicit selfies with the woman in question in compromising positions and shared them with her? "The video clippings can be used against him," they said.
According to some media reports, Suresh's wife has said that she was a victim of domestic violence and has not been living with her husband. But the fact is that "she continues to remain his legally wedded wife and the provisions of adultery laws will be invoked against Guled, who is the accused in this case," said an officer.
Last week, the Centre opposing a petition before the apex court had contended that adultery should remain an offence and that diluting adultery law will impact the sanctity of marriages.
"Making adultery legal will hurt marriage bonds," the Centre had said in its affidavit before the apex court.
Adultery laws in India are not gender neutral. The complainant and the accused are men. "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 case the wife shall not be punishable as an abettor," is the legal definition of Sec 497 IPC. The statutory provisions on one hand reflect how a married woman is perceived as the marital property of her husband on the other hand the law is silent on adulterous married women. Further, the IPC section does not empower a woman to prosecute an adulterous husband or take action against the woman with whom her husband is having an illicit affair.
