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TMI Blog2024 (12) TMI 1529X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aforesaid Section cannot be sustained. Abetment also requires an active act, direct or indirect, on the part of the accused person which left the deceased with no other option but to commit suicide. This Court in the case of S.S. CHHEENA VERSUS VIJAY KUMAR MAHAJAN AND ORS. [2010 (8) TMI 1189 - SUPREME COURT], had an occasion to consider the scope of Section 306 of the IPC and the ingredients which are essential for abetment, as set out in Section 107 of the IPC. This Court held that abetment involves the mental process of instigating a person or intentionally aiding a person in doing of a thing. Therefore, without a positive act on the part of the accused to instigate or aid a person in committing suicide, conviction cannot be sustained. This Court further observed that 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 of IPC, there has to be a clear mens rea to commit the offence. More recently, in the case of Jayedeepsinh Pravinsinh Chavda and Others v. State of Gujarat [2024 (12) TMI 1527 - SUPREME COURT], this Court has relied on S.S. Chheena to hold that the element of mens rea cann ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ai And K.V. Viswanathan, JJ. For the Appellant : Mr. Niteen V. Gaware, Adv., Mr. Mahesh Prakash Shinde, Adv., Mr. Vatsalya Vigya, AOR For the Respondent : Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR, Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv., Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv. JUDGMENT B.R. GAVAI, J. 1. Leave granted. 2. This appeal challenges the judgment and order dated 17th October 2022 passed by the learned Single Judge of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Bench at Aurangabad in Criminal Writ Petition No. 246 of 2021, by which the learned Single Judge dismissed the Writ Petition preferred by the present appellants. The Writ Petition had been filed with the prayer to quash the order dated 24th December 2020 passed by the learned Assistant Sessions Judge, Sangamner, District Ahmednagar wherein the learned Assistant Sessions Judge had rejected the application preferred by the appellants seeking discharge from the charges punishable under Sections 306 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 [For short, 'the IPC'], pending against the appellants before the Court of the Assistant Sessions Judge, Sangamner [Hereinafter referred to as the 'trial court'] in Sessions Case No. 75 of 2015. 3. The facts which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ry as he would not accept her or her children at the matrimonial house. Subsequent to this incident, the deceased would frequently say that she would commit suicide as her life no longer held any meaning. Thereafter, on 20th March 2015, the deceased committed suicide by hanging herself from an iron pipe with the aid of a saree. 3.3. On the basis of the complaint, a First Information Report [For short, 'FIR'] being Crime No. 12 of 2015 was lodged under Sections 306 and 34 of the IPC against Prakash Pandurang Nagare (Appellant No. 1), Pandurang Kundlik Nagare (Appellant No. 2), the fatherin-law of the deceased, and Pradip Pandurang Nagare (Appellant No. 3), the brother-in-law of the deceased at the aforementioned police station. 3.4. Upon completion of the investigation, the chargesheet came to be filed on 28th September 2015. 3.5. Being aggrieved thereby, the appellants filed an application under Section 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [For short, 'Cr.P.C.'] before the trial court, praying to be discharged from the said case. The trial court, by its order dated 24th December 2020, rejected the aforesaid application on the ground that there was sufficient ground to pro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tted that the FIR wrongly mentions the date of the mahalokadalat to be 17th February 2015. It is submitted that the deceased committed suicide after over a year had passed. However, the courts below did not consider this aspect or look into the roznama of court proceedings which clearly showed the date on which the mahalokadalat had been held. Therefore, he submitted that in view of the time gap between the alleged meeting and the date of suicide, there is no immediate instigation or abetment to commit suicide which can be attributed to the appellants. 9. Mr. Gaware placed reliance on the judgments of this Court in the cases of Mohit Singhal and Another v. State of Uttarakhand and Others [(2024) 1 SCC 417 : 2023 INSC 1035], Gurjit Singh v. State of Punjab [(2020) 14 SCC 264 : 2019 INSC 1281], State of West Bengal v. Indrajit Kundu and Others [(2019) 10 SCC 188 : 2019 INSC 1164], Madan Mohan Singh v. State of Gujarat and Another [(2010) 8 SCC 628 : 2010 INSC 521], Yogesh alias Sachin Jagdish Joshi v. State of Maharashtra [(2008) 10 SCC 394 : 2008 INSC 534] and Sanju @ Sanjay Singh Sengar v. State of M.P. [(2002) 5 SCC 371 : 2002 INSC 250]. He submitted in view of the material place ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion or involvement, one of the three conditions outlined in Section 107 of the IPC has to be satisfied. 14. Section 306 read with Section 107 of IPC, has been interpreted, time and again, and its principles are wellestablished. To attract the offence of abetment to suicide, it is important to establish proof of direct or indirect acts of instigation or incitement of suicide by the accused, which must be in close proximity to the commission of suicide by the deceased. Such instigation or incitement should reveal a clear mens rea to abet the commission of suicide and should put the victim in such a position that he/she would have no other option but to commit suicide. 15. The law on abetment has been crystallised by a plethora of decisions of this Court. Abetment involves a mental process of instigating or intentionally aiding another person to do a particular thing. To bring a charge under Section 306 of the IPC, the act of abetment would require the positive act of instigating or intentionally aiding another person to commit suicide. Without such mens rea on the part of the accused person being apparent from the face of the record, a charge under the aforesaid Section cannot be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... finding whether the cruelty meted out to the victim had in fact induced her to end the life by committing suicide. If it [appears] to the court that a victim committing suicide was hypersensitive to ordinary petulance, discord and differences in domestic life quite common to the society to which the victim belonged and such petulance, discord and differences were not expected to induce a similarly circumstanced individual in a given society to commit suicide, the conscience of the court should not be satisfied for basing a finding that the accused charged of abetting the offence of suicide should be found guilty." 24. This Court in Chitresh Kumar Chopra v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi) [(2009) 16 SCC 605 : (2010) 3 SCC (Cri) 367] had an occasion to deal with this aspect of abetment. The Court dealt with the dictionary meaning of the words "instigation" and "goading". The Court opined that there should be intention to provoke, incite or encourage the doing of an act by the latter. Each person's suicidability pattern is different from the other. Each person has his own idea of self-esteem and self-respect. Therefore, it is impossible to lay down any straitjacket formula in dea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 306 of the IPC, it is a well-established legal principle that the presence of clear mens rea--the intention to abet the act--is essential. Mere harassment, by itself, is not sufficient to find an accused guilty of abetting suicide. The prosecution must demonstrate an active or direct action by the accused that led the deceased to take his/her own life. The element of mens rea cannot simply be presumed or inferred; it must be evident and explicitly discernible. Without this, the foundational requirement for establishing abetment under the law is not satisfied, underscoring the necessity of a deliberate and conspicuous intent to provoke or contribute to the act of suicide." 19. It is, therefore, evident that the positive act of instigation is a crucial element of abetment. While dealing with an issue of a similar nature, this Court in the case of Ramesh Kumar v. State of Chhattisgarh [(2001) 9 SCC 618 : 2001 INSC 515] laid down the parameters of what would be constituted to be an act of instigation. This Court observed as follows:- "20. Instigation is to goad, urge forward, provoke, incite or encourage to do "an act". To satisfy the requirement of instigation though it is not nec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mission of suicide by another or not, could only be gathered from the facts and circumstances of each case. 16.1. For the purpose of finding out if a person has abetted commission of suicide by another, the consideration would be if the accused is guilty of the act of instigation of the act of suicide. As explained and reiterated by this Court in the decisions above referred, instigation means to goad, urge forward, provoke, incite or encourage to do an act. If the persons who committed suicide had been hypersensitive and the action of the accused is otherwise not ordinarily expected to induce a similarly circumstanced person to commit suicide, it may not be safe to hold the accused guilty of abetment of suicide. But, on the other hand, if the accused by his acts and by his continuous course of conduct creates a situation which leads the deceased perceiving no other option except to commit suicide, the case may fall within the four corners of Section 306 IPC. If the accused plays an active role in tarnishing the self-esteem and self-respect of the victim, which eventually draws the victim to commit suicide, the accused may be held guilty of abetment of suicide. The question of me ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... imate to the time of occurrence. It was further clarified that the question of mens rea on the part of the accused in such cases would be examined with reference to the actual acts and deeds of the accused. It was further held that if the acts and deeds are only of such nature where the accused intended nothing more than harassment or a snap-show of anger, a particular case may fall short of the offence of abetment of suicide, however, if the accused kept on irritating or annoying the deceased by words or deeds until the deceased reacted or was provoked, a particular case may be that of abetment of suicide. This Court held that owing to the fact that the human mind could be affected and could react in myriad ways and that similar actions are dealt with differently by different persons, each case is required to be dealt with its own facts and circumstances. 23. In the case of Sanju @ Sanjay Singh Sengar (supra), the appellant before this Court was charged with having abetted the suicide by his brother-in-law (sister's husband). The prosecution story was that there were strained relations between the deceased and his wife who at the material time was staying with the appellant there ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... harassment of the deceased. This Court further held that neither of the ingredients of abetment are attracted on the statement of the deceased. 11. In Ramesh Kumar v. State of Chhattisgarh [(2001) 9 SCC 618] this Court was considering the charge framed and the conviction for an offence under Section 306 IPC on the basis of dying declaration recorded by an Executive Magistrate, in which she had stated that previously there had been quarrel between the deceased and her husband and on the day of occurrence she had a quarrel with her husband who had said that she could go wherever she wanted to go and that thereafter she had poured kerosene on herself and had set herself on fire. Acquitting the accused this Court said: (SCC p. 620) "A word uttered in a fit of anger or emotion without intending the consequences to actually follow cannot be said to be instigation. If it transpires to the court that a victim committing suicide was hypersensitive to ordinary petulance, discord and differences in domestic life quite common to the society to which the victim belonged and such petulance, discord and differences were not expected to induce a similarly circumstanced individual in a given so ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . This fact had escaped notice of the courts below. …………. 14. A plain reading of the suicide note would clearly show that the deceased was in great stress and depressed. One plausible reason could be that the deceased was without any work or avocation and at the same time indulged in drinking as revealed from the statement of the wife Smt Neelam Sengar. He was a frustrated man. Reading of the suicide note will clearly suggest that such a note is not the handiwork of a man with a sound mind and sense. Smt Neelam Sengar, wife of the deceased, made a statement under Section 161 CrPC before the investigation officer. She stated that the deceased always indulged in drinking wine and was not doing any work. She also stated that on 26-7-1998 her husband came to them in an inebriated condition and was abusing her and other members of the family. The prosecution story, if believed, shows that the quarrel between the deceased and the appellant had taken place on 25-7-1998 and if the deceased came back to the house again on 26-7-1998, it cannot be said that the suicide by the deceased was the direct result of the quarrel that had taken place on 25- 7-1998. Vie ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... here was no material to establish that the accused had abetted the suicide committed by the deceased. 25. Relying on the decision in the case of Sanju @ Sanjay Singh Sengar (supra), this Court in the case of Gurjit Singh (supra) set aside the conviction under Section 306 of the IPC as it was clear from the evidence on record that there was a time gap of about two months between the last visit of the deceased to her parents with regard to the illegal demand for money by the accused-appellant and the date of commission of suicide by the deceased. As such, this Court held that there was nothing on record to show that there was a proximate nexus between the commission of suicide and the illegal demand made by the accused-appellant. This Court observed as follows: "36. It could further be seen from the evidence on record that the time gap between the last visit of the deceased to her parents with regard to the illegal demand and the date of commission of suicide is about two months. As such, there is nothing on record to show that there was a proximate nexus between the commission of suicide and the illegal demand made by the appellant. In Sanju v. State of M.P. [Sanju v. State of M. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ellants. Therefore, the continuation of their prosecution will be nothing but an abuse of the process of law." (emphasis supplied) 28. This Court in the case of Naresh Kumar v. State of Haryana [(2024) 3 SCC 573 : 2024 INSC 149], observed as follows:- "20. This Court in Mariano Anto Bruno v. State [Mariano Anto Bruno v. State, (2023) 15 SCC 560 : 2022 SCC OnLine SC 1387], after referring to the abovereferred decisions rendered in context of culpability under Section 306IPC observed as under : (SCC para 45) "45. … It is also to be borne in mind that in cases of alleged abetment of suicide, there must be proof of direct or indirect acts of incitement to the commission of suicide. Merely on the allegation of harassment without there being any positive action proximate to the time of occurrence on the part of the accused which led or compelled the person to commit suicide, conviction in terms of Section 306IPC is not sustainable." (emphasis supplied) 29. Having discussed the law on the subject, we now proceed to consider the facts of the present case in view of the established principles. 30. As per the version of the complainant, the following facts have emerged: i. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The cardinal principle of the subjectmatter at hand is that there must be a close proximity between the positive act of instigation by the accused person and the commission of suicide by the victim. The close proximity should be such as to create a clear nexus between the act of instigation and the act of suicide. As was held in the case of Sanju @ Sanjay Singh Sengar (supra), if the deceased had taken the words of the appellants seriously, a time gap between the two incidents would have given enough time to the deceased to think over and reflect on the matter. As such, a gap of over a month would be sufficient time to dissolve the nexus or the proximate link between the two acts. 35. Apart from that, although an Accidental Death Report was lodged on the day of the incident by the deceased's brother, there is no mention about any involvement of the appellants in the suicidal death of the deceased. Further, there is no mention about the incident that had occurred at the mahalokadalat which had put the deceased in a state of depression such that she frequently spoke about committing suicide. These facts are alleged for the first time in the FIR which was lodged five days after the i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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