New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday said hyperboles employed in exchanges should not, without anything more, be glorified as an instigation to commit suicide, and emphasised that the charge of abetment to suicide should not be "deployed against individuals, only to assuage the immediate feelings of the distraught family of the deceased".
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and K. V. Viswanathan discharged a man charged for abetting the suicide of a man. It was alleged that the accused was forcing the deceased to repay a sum of money.
Justice Viswanathan, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench, said this court has, over the last several decades, repeatedly reiterated the higher threshold, mandated by law for Section 306 IPC (now Section 108 read with Section 45 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) to be attracted. Justice Viswanathan added that they however seem to have followed more in the breach.
Justice Viswanathan said Section 306 IPC (abetment of suicide) appears to be casually and too readily resorted to by the police. “While the persons involved in genuine cases where the threshold is met should not be spared, the provision should not be deployed against individuals, only to assuage the immediate feelings of the distraught family of the deceased”, said the bench.
The bench, citing the transcripts of the telephone conversations, said viewed from the armchair of the appellant, the exchanges with the deceased, albeit heated, are not with intent to leave the deceased with no other option but to commit suicide.
It was alleged that the petitioner was harassing the deceased with respect to repayment of a loan which another person had taken from Shree Saakh Cooperative Society Limited, Khargone.
The bench said a reading of the suicide note reveals that the petitioner was asking the deceased to repay the loan guaranteed by the deceased and advanced to another person. The bench noted that it cannot be said that the appellant by performing his duty of realising outstanding loans at the behest of his employer can be said to have instigated the deceased to commit suicide.
The bench said the conduct of the proposed accused and the deceased, their interactions and conversations preceding the unfortunate death of the deceased should be approached from a practical point of view and not divorced from the day-to-day realities of life.
The bench said hyperboles employed in exchanges should not, without anything more, be glorified as an instigation to commit suicide. "It is time the investigating agencies are sensitised to the law laid down by this court under Section 306 so that persons are not subjected to the abuse of process of a totally untenable prosecution," said the bench.
The apex court stressed that the trial courts also should exercise great caution and circumspection and should not adopt a play-it-safe syndrome by mechanically framing charges, even if the investigating agencies in a given case have shown utter disregard for the ingredients of Section 306.
The top court allowed the appeal filed by the appellant assailing the July 25, 2023, judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which declined to entertain his plea for discharging him from the offences punishable under Section 306 of the IPC and maintained the charges as framed by the trial court on February 28, 2023.
"We hold that the case against the appellant is groundless for framing of a charge under Section 306. Hence, we discharge the appellant from proceedings in sessions case….pending on the file of First Additional Sessions Judge, Khargone District, Mandleshwar and quash and set aside the said proceedings," said the apex court.
On December 31, 2022, an FIR was registered at PS Maingaon. During inquest under Section 174 Cr.P.C, a written suicide note and a mobile were found. The suicide note mentioned about the deceased being harassed by the petitioner. A chargesheet was filed on January 21, 2023, and it mentioned that the appellant had committed offences punishable under Section 306 of the IPC.
