section 66 c information technology act

As per the situation you've illustrated above it's important to understand the basics of both these sections i.e. Section 66(c) of IT Act & Section 417 of IPC.
Basically, The Information Technology Act (ITA), 2000 under Section 66(c) deals with the punishment for identity theft.

The section states that — "Whoever, fraudulently or dishonestly make use of the electronic signature, password or any other unique identification feature of any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either descripttion for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine with may imprisonment of either descripttion for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine with may extend to rupees one lakh".

While on the other hand the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 deals with Punishment for cheating under section 417.

This section states that — "Whoever cheats shall be punished with imprisonment of either descripttion for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both".

Now, the concept of Rule functions upon a doctrine popularly known as the 'Equality before the eyes of Law' or 'Equality before Law'. The principle of the doctrine is that all people must be equally protected by the law, and thus everyone is treated equally before law.
In simple terms it means "Eveyone" (be it a judicial member/law enforcement officer etc.) is equal before the eyes and of law and shall be dealt equally without any sort of compassion or discrimination, which means the same law is imposed and works for evey single entity regardless of the gender, race, caste, religion of the person.

So as per the above mentioned laws and the doctrine upon which the legal system relies and functions, the spouse of a person will be held liable if in case he/she commits anything that is totally against/violates the law. Henceforth, if a person's spouse downloads documents from e-mail of their partner without prior permission to do so and extracts the documents via hacking or any such activity that is in violation of law, then the spouse committing such activity shall be held liable under the law.

This is because being a mere life partner does not allows an individual to act in a suspicious and unlawful manner again his/her own spouse.


Hope It Helps!

Regards,
Kevin M. Paul