Indian law and courts traditionally sympathetic towards women

Story here. Excerpt:

'"Do as your wife commands and never question her authority": this advice to husbands came in a lighter vein from a vacation Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Deepak Verma. The judges asked them to adhere to this time-tested formula.
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The Bench’s banter did reflect the traditional sympathetic view that the law and the courts adopt towards the fair sex. Law considers matrimonial relationship to be sacred and takes a strict view of anyone polluting it.

Take for example the offence of adultery, which is punishable under Section 497 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The offence, as defined in IPC, can only be committed by a man, not by a woman! In Sowmithiri Vishnu vs Union of India (1985 SCC Sup 137), the SC held, “Indeed, the section provides expressly that the wife shall not be punishable even as an abettor... The contemplation of law is that the wife, who is involved in an illicit relationship with another man, is a victim and not the author of the crime.”'