Death by suicide after breakup cannot make abetment case, Mumbai court says
The judge said that to constitute abetment under Section 306 of the IPC, there should be active suggestion, instigation, or encouragement by the accused
A Mumbai court observed that an abetment to suicide case cannot be made simply because a person committed suicide after breakup due to possible mental trauma. The court said that it is morally incorrect to change partners because of one’s whims and fancies but there isn’t any legal remedy for the same under the IPC.
These observations were made by Additional Sessions judge NP Mehta on February 29 when he acquitted Manisha Chudasma and her fiancée Rajesh Panwar who were accused of abetting the suicide of Nitin Keni. Nitin was found hanging in his house in 2016 and was rushed to a hospital where he was announced dead.
“Morally, it is incorrect to switch love partner at one’s whims and fancies, but if one sees from the provision of penal law, no remedy lies with the victim whose partner has switched his or her love relationship with other on her/his choice,” the judge observed.
The judge, in his order, said that to constitute abetment under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, there should be active suggestion, instigation, or encouragement on the part of the accused to push the victim to die by suicide.
“A person gets emotionally broken if the partner he loves breaks the relationship without any reason. If there are hard breaks in a love relationship and one partner commits suicide because of mental trauma would not bring his case under Section 107 read with 306 of the IPC,” the court added.
The prosecution had argued that Nitin Keni, who was in a relationship with Manisha was mentally tortured by Manisha Chudasma and her fiancée, driving Keni to commit suicide. Meanwhile, the defence said that Nitin Keni was stalking Manisha and she had lodged a police complaint against him.
The court said that from the testimony of the prosecution, it looked as if the victim was upset and mentally disturbed and went into a depressive state of mind after he found about Manisha’s engagement with Mr Panwar.
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