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SHAH ALAM: Infidelity is rampant online and has caused the breakdown of many non-Muslim marriages, but it does not amount to adultery, a family law judge said.

Evrol Mariette Peters said that technology has redefined forms of marital cheating, which now takes place in various forms, such as text messaging, emails and through other social media platforms.

"Should adultery also be redefined or should it be removed altogether from the jurisprudence of family law? This is food for thought,"she said in a talk on Saturday on when and how to claim damages for adultery from a third party.

Peters said the definition of adultery is still very conventional and based on the definition that there must be sexual intercourse between two persons of different gender, but not when it involves a third party of the same sex.

She said adultery is specific, while infidelity through acts of flirting and emotional affairs, is general.

Peters said the law allows a spouse in a non-Muslim marriage to file for divorce when the marriage has irretrievably broken down."One of the reasons could be that the respondent has committed adultery and the petitioner finds it intolerable to live with the respondent,"she said.

She said the law allows an aggrieved party to seek damages from a co-respondent – the adulterer or adulteress.

Peters added that the standard of proof for adultery relies on the balance of probabilities and evidence that could come from eyewitnesses, admissions, text messages and photographs.

However, a petition for divorce on the grounds of adultery could be dismissed if the petitioner had tolerated their spouse’s adultery.