Nothing on record to suggest Tharoor provoked wife to end life: Court

A Delhi court has said there was nothing on record to suggest that Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had "provoked, incited or induced his wife Sunanda Pushkar to commit suicide”.

Special Judge Geetanjali Goel, while discharging Tharoor in the case, said the prosecution has not been able to point out even one instance where the accused had done something purposefully which facilitated the commission of the offence.

Releasing the 176-page order, the court said, “There is nothing to demonstrate any overt act on the part of the accused (Tharoor) and only on the ground that he continued the alleged affair with MT (a Pakistani journalist) (even if it is assumed) and exchanged messages with her, it cannot be presumed that he had abetted the commission of suicide by the deceased”.

The court said there is no material whatsoever against the accused much less any positive act to instigate or aid the deceased in committing the suicide, even if it is assumed that the death was a suicide.

"As such, it is not shown, even prima facie that the offence under Section 306 IPC is made out against the accused," the court said.

The court noted the deceased might have felt distressed or mentally disturbed with the alleged extra-marital relation of the accused but mental disturbance does not constitute the offence of abetment.

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“No doubt a precious life was lost. But in the absence of specific allegations and sufficient material to make out the ingredients of the various offences and on the basis of which the court could, at this stage presume that the accused had committed the offence, the accused cannot be compelled to face the rigmaroles of a criminal trial," the judge said.

The court had on Wednesday pronounced the order discharging Tharoor.

Pushkar was found dead on the evening of January 17, 2014, in a Delhi hotel.

Initially, Delhi police investigated the case as a murder, with an FIR registered under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, it charged Tharoor under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 498A (cruelty by husband) of the IPC.

In its detailed order, the court said even it cannot be said that a person subjecting a woman to cruelty is guilty of abetment unless something is brought on record.

“Even for instigation, the intention to provoke, incite, urge or encourage doing of an act is an essential factor but the record does not bear out any such intention on the part of the accused,” the court said.

The prosecution claimed that Tharoor had continued the affair with MT despite his assurance to stop it and this showed wilful misrepresentation and instigation by misrepresentation.

Rejecting the charge, the court again said, “There is nothing on record to show that the accused did some act in order to irritate or annoy the deceased until she reacted or strongly persuaded or advised the deceased to do some act with the intention to provoke, incite, urge or encourage the latter to commit suicide”.