9911796707
TMI Blog2010 (8) TMI 1189X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as with regard to the theft of a mobile phone which came to the notice of M.D. Singh, the then Head of the Law Department on 13.10.2003, pursuant to which M.D. Singh asked both the students, i.e., Saurav Mahajan, deceased and Harminder Singh alias Montu to submit their versions of the incident in writing. 5. The deceased and Harminder Singh gave their written versions of the incident and thereafter M.D. Singh forwarded their versions to the University authorities for taking necessary action. Consequently, the enquiry was conducted on 13.10.2003 by the Security Officer of the University - the appellant herein. During the course of the enquiry, on 17.10.2003, the son of the complainant committed suicide by jumping in front of a train. Subsequently, during the search, a suicide note was recovered from the pocket of the deceased dated 16.10.2003. The suicide note is important for adjudicating and deciding this appeal. The said suicide note is reproduced as under: SUICIDE NOTE I am Saurav Mahajan a final year student of Department of Law of GNDU. Montu had levelled a false allegation upon me. I am very annoyed because a false allegation has been levelled upon me. I have a faith tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... alsely implicated in the theft case of a mobile phone. He further mentioned in the suicide note that Harminder Singh and his accomplices were responsible for this act. On the basis of the suicide note a FIR No. 81 dated 17.10.2003 under Section 306 of the IPC was registered at the Police Station, GRPS, Amritsar. In the said FIR, the suicide note of the deceased has been reproduced and on the basis of the same, Harminder Singh was implicated under Section 306 IPC along with M.D. Singh. It is pertinent to mention that in the said FIR, the appellant, namely, S.S. Chheena, the Security Officer was not even named as an accused. 7. The complainant had approached the Punjab State Human Rights Commission, Chandigarh, but, the Commission had also refused to interfere in the investigation conducted in FIR No. 81 dated 17.10.2003. 8. A report under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was submitted only against Harminder Singh. Pursuant to the presentation of the Challan, charges were framed against Harminder Singh @ Montu. 9. The complainant, being father of the deceased filed a private complaint in the court of learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Amritsar, in which it ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ant with the crime, in this view of the matter, according to the appellant, it would be a futile exercise to compel him to undergo the rigmarole of a criminal trial. 15. Learned Counsel for the appellant has placed reliance on the judgment of this Court in Gangula Mohan Reddy v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2010) 1 SCC 750 (in which one of us, Bhandari, J., was the author of the said judgment). The ratio of the said judgment is fully applicable to this case and we deem it proper to rely and reproduce some parts of the said judgment. 16. In order to properly comprehend the scope and ambit of Section 306 IPC, it is important to carefully examine the basic ingredients of Section 306 IPC. The said section is reproduced as under: 306. Abetment of suicide.--If any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. 17. The word "suicide" in itself is nowhere defined in the Penal Code, however its meaning and import is well known and requires no explanation. "Sui" means "self" and "cide" means " ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... arassed me. They beat me and abused me. My husband Mahendra wants to marry a second time. He has illicit connections with my sister-in-law. Because of these reasons and being harassed I want to die by burning. 23. The Court on the aforementioned allegations came to a definite conclusion that by no stretch the ingredients of abetment are attracted on the statement of the deceased. According to the appellant, the conviction of the appellant under Section 306 IPC merely on the basis of the aforementioned allegation of harassment of the deceased is unsustainable in law. 24. The learned Counsel also placed reliance on another judgment of this Court in Ramesh Kumar v. State of Chhattisgarh (2001) 9 SCC 618. In this case, a three-Judge Bench of this Court had an occasion to deal with a case of a similar nature. In a dispute between the husband and wife, the appellant husband uttered "you are free to do whatever you wish and go wherever you like". Thereafter, the wife of the appellant Ramesh Kumar committed suicide. The Court in para 20 has examined different shades of the meaning of "instigation". Para 20 reads as under: (SCC p. 629) 20. Instigation is to goad, urg ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... raitjacket formula in dealing with such cases. Each case has to be decided on the basis of its own facts and circumstances. 28. Abetment involves a mental process of instigating a person or intentionally aiding a person in doing of a thing. Without a positive act on the part of the accused to instigate or aid in committing suicide, conviction cannot be sustained. The intention of the legislature and the ratio of the cases decided by this Court is clear that in order to convict a person under Section 306 IPC there has to be a clear mens rea to commit the offence. It also requires an active act or direct act which led the deceased to commit suicide seeing no option and that act must have been intended to push the deceased into such a position that he committed suicide. 29. In the instant case, the deceased was undoubtedly hypersensitive to ordinary petulance, discord and differences which happen in our day-to-day life. Human sensitivity of each individual differs from the other. Different people behave differently in the same situation. 30. When we carefully scrutinize and critically examine the facts of this case in the light of the settled legal position the conclusion becomes o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
