Necessary To Prove Cruelty To Convict For Abetment Of Suicide, SC Holds

The Supreme Court of India recently held that mere fact of suicide within seven years of marriage should not lead to the conclusion of abetment unless cruelty was proved.

Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said that court had the discretion to raise or not to raise the presumption, because of the words 'may presume' and must take into account all the circumstances of the case which is an additional safeguard.

The Court said this while allowing an appeal filed by an appellant who was convicted under Section 306 (Abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code 1860 by the Trial Court and the High Court.

Contentions 

The counsel for the appellant argued that the Courts below committed an error in holding the appellant guilty of having abetted the commission of suicide by the deceased. It was further submitted that there was not an iota of evidence to even remotely suggest that there was any kind of harassment, physical or mental, to the deceased by her husband.

Per contra, the counsel appearing for the State of Haryana, submitted that no error not to speak of any error of law could be said to have been committed by the Courts below in holding the appellant guilty of the alleged offence. She laid emphasis was laid on the fact that the deceased committed suicide within seven years from the date of her marriage.

Observations 

The Court observed that what ultimately led the deceased to take such a drastic step of committing suicide was not clear.

"To put it in other words, the plain reading of the oral evidence of both these witnesses does not disclose any form of incessant cruelty or harassment on the part of the husband which would in ordinary circumstances drag the wife to commit suicide as if she was left with no other alternative. Mere demand of money from the wife or her parents for running a business without anything more would not constitute cruelty or harassment," the Court noted.

The Court opined that had there been any clinching evidence of incessant harassment on account of which the wife was left with no other option but to put an end to her life, it could have been said that the accused intended the consequences of his act, namely, suicide.

The Court observed that, "It is now well settled that in order to convict a person under Section 306 of the IPC there has to be a clear mens rea to commit the offence. Mere harassment is not sufficient to hold an accused guilty of abetting the commission of suicide. It also requires an active act or direct act which led the deceased to commit suicide. The ingredient of mens rea cannot be assumed to be ostensibly present but has to be visible and conspicuous."

Decision 

With the above-mentioned observations, the Apex Court acquitted the appellant.