Human Mind an Enigma, There Can Be Myriad Reasons for Suicide: SC

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Ujjal Bhuyan, while setting aside the conviction of a man for abetment of suicide of a B Com girl from Mysuru, on Friday said the human mind is an enigma and there could be a myriad of reasons for suicide, reports ETV Bharat's Sumit Saxena.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday said the human mind is an enigma and there could be a myriad of reasons for suicide, while setting aside the conviction of a man for abetment of suicide of a BCom girl from Mysuru, 24 years ago.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Ujjal Bhuyan said: “The human mind is an enigma. It is well neigh impossible to unravel the mystery of the human mind. There can be myriad reasons for a man or a woman to commit or attempt to commit suicide: it may be a case of failure to achieve academic excellence, oppressive environment in college or hostel, particularly for students belonging to the marginalized sections, joblessness, financial difficulties, disappointment in love or marriage, acute or chronic ailments, depression, so on and so forth”.

“Therefore, it may not always be the case that someone has to abet the commission of suicide. Circumstances surrounding the deceased in which he finds himself are relevant”, it said.

The apex court found gaps in the prosecution case, making it wholly unsustainable to uphold conviction of Kumar alias Shiva Kumar, against the backdrop of contradictions in the statements of prosecution witnesses, including father of the victim. “we do not find any evidence on the basis of which we can hold the appellant guilty of abetting the suicide of the deceased. While the death of a young woman is certainly very tragic, it cannot be said with any degree of certainty that suicide has been proved; the other essential ingredient constituting the offence under Section 306 IPC, viz, abetment cannot also be said to have been proved”, said the bench.

The bench said as per post mortem report, the deceased had died due to Organophosphate, a pesticide. The bench said the prosecution had failed to recover any syringe or needle from the crime scene and no container or bottle containing the pesticide were recovered from the room of the deceased.

The bench said there is no evidence to suggest that police had made an effort to search for such a container or bottle. “If the deceased had injected the poison herself, considering the multiple injection marks over the front of both the elbows, then the syringe and the needle would have been there, in and around her. If she had orally consumed the poison, then also the bottle or the container of the poison would have been present in the crime scene or near about”, it said.

The apex court said in a case of death by poisoning, be it homicidal or suicidal and which is based on circumstantial evidence, recovery of the trace of poison consumed by or administered to the deceased is of critical importance. “It forms a part of the chain; rather it would complete the chain to prove homicide or suicide," the bench said. The apex court set aside the Karnataka High Court's order which had in 2010 upheld the trial court's order of conviction and three years sentence to the appellant in 2004.

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