The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a wife and her relatives cannot be held liable for abetting a husband's suicide simply because they filed cases against him during a matrimonial dispute. The court quashed criminal proceedings, stating that lodging cases alone does not establish the necessary intent to abet suicide.
The accused, in charge of a school and a hostel, had scolded the deceased following a complaint by another student. After the incident, the student hanged himself in a room.
The Supreme Court of India has ruled that the offence of abetment of suicide should not be invoked mechanically against individuals, emphasizing that the provision should not be used to soothe the feelings of grieving families. The court stressed that the conduct of the accused and the deceased, their interactions, and conversations preceding the death should be examined practically and not divorced from real-life contexts. The judgment came after a plea challenging an order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court that refused to discharge a man from charges under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) related to a suicide case. The Supreme Court emphasized that to prove abetment of suicide, there must be evidence of active instigation or acts facilitating the suicide. In this case, the court found that the appellant's actions, including seeking repayment of a loan, did not constitute instigation to suicide.
The incident took place in Lateri town, located 90 km from the district headquarters, on Sunday following which the victim's family and other locals staged a protest till late night.
The Supreme Court of India has said that mere harassment is not sufficient to hold someone guilty of the offence of abetting suicide, and there must be clear evidence of direct or indirect incitement.
The court also directed Delhi police to preserve vigilance report in the matter.
Police on Sunday arrested a 27-year old co-actor of television and film actress Tunisha Sharma on the charge of abetting her suicide in Maharashtra's Palghar district, an official said.
Suraj Pancholi, son of an actor couple, was on Monday arrested for allegedly driving his girl friend and Bollywood actress Jiah Khan to suicide, on the basis of a note left behind by her which mentioned that she was "heartbroken" in her relationship with Suraj and fed up with his "womanising".
The 27-year-old actor was arrested by Valiv Police in Palghar district on December 26 for allegedly abetting Sharma's suicide.
A city court on Thursday directed framing of abetment to suicide charge against industrialist Ashok Todi and three others in the case of mysterious death of computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rahman.
The Haryana government has recommended that the Central Bureau of Investigation take over the probe into the three fresh FIRs, including abetment to suicide charge, filed against disgraced former state director general of police SPS Rathore, in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case. "The state government made the recommendation to the Centre for transfer of the fresh FIRs to CBI on Tuesday," official sources said.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda indicated on Saturday that a first information report under abetment to suicide complaint filed two days ago by Ruchika's brother might be registered once investigations are completed.
Battling for justice for 20 years, the family of Ruchika Girhotra on Tuesday voiced satisfaction over the court enhancing the sentence of her molester and former director general of police SPS Rathore, but said their fight will continue till he is charged with abetment of her suicide. "We are satisfied as justice has been delivered. But we will continue to fight till he (Rathore) is charged under Section 306 of the IPC for abetment of suicide," Ruchika's father said.
The father of molestation victim Ruchika welcomed the slapping of fresh abetment to suicide charge on former Haryana director general of police S P S Rathore as a "step in the right direction" and thanked Home Minister P Chidambaram for "taking corrective measures" in the case on Tuesday.
The Haryana Police FIR came four days after Ruchika's brother filed a complaint with the cops for abetment of suicide against Rathore.
A court at Vasai in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Saturday granted bail to television actor Sheezan Khan, arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of co-actor Tunisha Sharma last year.
The charge sheet was filed before a court in Alibaug in neighbouring Raigad district, where the case for alleged abetment of suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud has been registered.
ECL Finance Company MD and three officials were on Tuesday quizzed for nearly eight hours by the Raigad police in Maharashtra probing the alleged suicide of film art director Nitin Desai, an official said.
A 12-year-old student of a private school in Navi Mumbai allegedly committed suicide by jumping from his fourth-floor classroom after being scolded by his science teacher, police said on Wednesday.
A woman was awarded a sentence of four years and a fine of Rs 11,000 for levelling false rape charges against her landlord, after a dispute over the payment of rent due to which the landlord committed suicide.
According to police, the 21-year-old actress allegedly died by suicide in the washroom on the set of a serial in Vasai area of Palghar on Saturday.
After the suicides of the brothers, the villagers protested against the police and demanded action against the officer. Following this, Sub-inspector (SI) Hariom Agnihotri and Inspector Mukesh Kumar were suspended on the directions of Aligarh Range Inspector General Shalab Mathur, the police said.
A special CBI court acquitted Sooraj Pancholi on April 28, accused of abetting the suicide of his then actor girlfriend Jiah Khan in 2013, citing lack of evidence against him.
Alibaug Police had arrested Goswami and two others in the case related to interior designer Anvay Naik's alleged suicide in November 2020.
According to a preliminary probe, the accused used to "harass and humiliate" the members of the Vanmore family as they were unable to repay the loans they had taken, apparently forcing them to take the extreme step, he added.
The 48-year-old man's brother helped his friend marry a girl from another community.
The accused -- Bhakti Mehere, Hema Ahuja and Ankita Khandelwal -- were arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of doctor Payal Tadvi by tormenting her with casteist slurs.
After the judge pronounced the order, the three accused broke down and started sobbing in the court.
Edelweiss ARC, in a statement, denied that any undue pressure was brought to bear on Desai for loan recovery.
The Centre on Tuesday said it was contemplating whether to appeal for enhancing punishment for Rathore."There are two points on which we are thinking. The first is to appeal for an enhanced punishment for the accused under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (molestation). The second point is whether to start fresh investigations to see whether Rathore and others could be charged for abetment of suicide under Section 305 or 306 of IPC," said Law Minister M Veerappa Moily.
The report said that his classmates and senior held a public trial inside the hostel alleging that he had misbehaved with a girl student of the college.
Police said the teacher has been arrested under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.
After a Delhi court discharged Shashi Tharoor in a case related to his wife Sunanda Pushkar's death, the senior Congress leader on Wednesday said his faith in the Indian judiciary stands vindicated and the ruling brings a "significant conclusion to the long nightmare" which had enveloped him.
Tharoor was charged under sections 498A and 306 of the Indian Penal Code by Delhi police, but was not arrested in the case.
The police claimed that Payal Tadvi's body had a few injury marks which needed to be probed further, for which the post-mortem report was awaited.
The petitioners had sought interim order of protection from any coercive action and for the probe to be stayed in the case pending the hearing of their pleas.
During his first day in police custody, Sheezan told Waliv police that he ended the relationship with Tunisha after seeing repercussions emerging from the Shraddha Walkar case and told his former paramour that belonging to a different community stands in their way as did their age gap.
"Even after being in a relationship with Tunisha and living together, Sheezan used to keep in touch with many girls. This left Tunisha stressed and in depression," he said.
Voicing concern over the rise of dengue cases in the national capital, the Delhi high court on Thursday asked the Centre and city government to explain the steps they have taken to contain the vector-borne disease.
Superintendent of Police, Baghpat, Abhishek Singh said 10 policemen of Binauli police station have been relieved of their duties and attached to police lines.
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