The court revoked Article 239 of Taiwan’s Criminal Code, which stipulated that a “married person who commits adultery with another shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year; the other party to the adultery shall be subject to the same punishment.”

Hsu Tzong-li, president of the Judicial Yuan, the judicial branch of Taiwan’s government, said the law had been nullified because it seriously undermined personal sexual autonomy and privacy.

“After the decriminalisation of adultery, people can rely on the Civil Code to protect family and marriage,’’ Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lin Hui-huang told a news conference in Taipei.

The court also nullified an article in the criminal code stating that in an adultery case, the withdrawal of a complaint against a spouse shall not be considered to be a withdrawal against the other adulterer.

Friday’s ruling was handed down several weeks after oral arguments, which saw the Ministry of Justice cite a number of surveys showing that 70 per cent of the population opposes the decriminalisation of adultery.

Kuan Hsiao-wei, an associate professor of Law at National Taipei University, called Friday’s ruling  a “milestone in the history of sexual rights and human rights in Taiwan.”

She said that the adultery law had been implemented in a gendered way, with women roughly 20 per cent more likely to be convicted than men, even though men commit adultery more often.

The criminal adultery law was deemed constitutional in a 2002 ruling .

The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights said Taiwan had become more inclusive during that time in respecting personal freedom and sexual autonomy.

Tseng Hsien-ying, president of the Coalition for the Happiness of Our Next Generation, said that the ruling would harm the institution of marriage, state-run Central News Agency reported

Source: dpa/NAN

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Abudu, whose wife, Blessing, sought the dissolution of their marriage, accusing him of infidelity, told the court while responding to the allegation that his wife pushed him into adultery

“My wife always tells me that I cannot impregnate another woman and that if I try to make love with another woman, my male organ will get stuck inside that woman, that she had done something concerning my male organ.

“I was afraid initially, but later I decided to try it to know if she is saying the truth.

“But luckily, the girl I met got pregnant and had a baby, when my wife got to know, she told me that the baby was not mine.

“After some months, I decided to do it again to prove her wrong, and the girl took in again.

“Since then, Blessing made the house unbearable for me by fighting me regularly. She caused the Police to arrest me and when I could no longer bear it, I packed out of the house,’’ he told the court.

The respondent said that his wife starved him of sex on many occasions, adding that she mostly claimed that sex gave her headache.

He urged the court not to grant his wife’s wish by dissolving their marriage, but told the court that he still loved her.

Mrs Blessing Abudu had approached the court to dissolve her 12-year-old marriage over her husband’s alleged infidelity.

“My husband is cheating on me, he got a girl pregnant on two occasions.

“I have gone to several hospitals and herbal homes, just to have another baby but my husband is busy making babies with another girl,’’ she lamented.

The 36-year-old tailor accused her husband of denying her the pleasure of having sex with him.

“My husband refused to sleep with me, despite the fact that I desire another baby.

“He told me to look for another man to sleep with me and vowed that he will not sleep with me again,’’ she alleged.

Blessing accused her husband of posing serious threat to her life.

“Bello told me that I am eating poison in his house, that I should pack out, else he will kill me or cause me to run mad,’’ she told the court.

The petitioner said that her husband had abandoned her with the only child of their marriage.

The mother of one begged the court to terminate the marriage, adding that she had long lost interest in it.

The president of the court, Mr. Adeniyi Koledoye, urged the two parties to maintain peace and adjourned the case until July 25, for judgment.

Source: NAN

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