SC quashes abetment of suicide case, says courts' inability leading to unwanted prosecutions

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has observed that the inability on the part of courts to understand and apply the correct principles of law to cases relating to abetment of suicide leads to unnecessary prosecutions.

The apex court, as a result, quashed the proceedings pending before a court in Lucknow against three accused persons in an alleged abetment of suicide case.

A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said while it was not oblivious to the feelings and sentiments of the family members of the deceased person who lodged FIRs with the police, it was ultimately for the police and the courts to look into the matter and see to it that the persons facing the allegations were not unnecessarily harassed.

The apex court in its order dated October 3 further said the ingredients to constitute an offence under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code would stand fulfilled if the suicide was committed by the deceased due to direct and alarming encouragement or incitement by the accused, leaving no option but to die by suicide.

"The test that the court should adopt in these type of cases is to make an endeavour to ascertain on the basis of the materials on record whether or not there is anything to indicate even prima facie that the accused intended the consequences of the act, i.e., suicide," the bench noted.

According to the top court, the trend these days showed the courts deciphering the purported intention behind the crime only after a full-fledged trial.

"The problem is that the courts just look into the factum of suicide and nothing more. We believe that such understanding on the part of the courts is wrong. It all depends on the nature of the offence and accusation," it said.

The bench further said the courts should know how to apply the correct principles of law governing abetment of suicide to the facts on record.

"It is the inability on the part of the courts to understand and apply the correct principles of law to the cases of abetment of suicide, which leads to unnecessary prosecutions," it added.

The apex court passed its order on an appeal filed by three accused challenging the March 2017 order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court which had rejected their application seeking quashing of criminal proceedings against them.

It noted that the deceased was an employee of a private firm and was working with the company for the past 23 years.

It came on record that the man had died by suicide in a hotel room in Lucknow in November 2006, and his brother got an FIR registered with the local police thereafter.

According to the FIR, the appellants, who were senior officials of the company, had convened a meeting with the employees of the firm at a hotel and the deceased and his colleagues were present there.

The FIR alleged that the company wanted some employees to opt for voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and those resisting the move were harassed.

The deceased was alleged to be humiliated by the appellants.

The apex court noted that according to the high court, the deceased died by suicide on account of instigation in the form of harassment and humiliation he was subjected to by the appellants.

"In the case on hand, the entire approach of the high court could be said to be incorrect," the top court observed.

The apex court noted that putting the appellants on trial on abetment charge will be nothing but abuse of process of law. "In our opinion, no case worth the name against the appellants is made out," it held while allowing the appeal and setting aside the high court's order.