Brief Facts
- The wife of the deceased filed complaint alleging that her husband’s suicide was caused by harassment from the Appellants over an unpaid loan. The deceased had borrowed money from father of Appellant No. 1. The complaint stated that on 15.06.2017 the deceased was verbally abused, physically assaulted, and threatened by the first appellant for repayment of loan. Subsequently on 27.06.2017, Father of Appellant No. 1 issued the legal notice for dishonor of cheque. It was stated by the complainant that due to the aforesaid acts the deceased was in tension and therefore wrote a suicide letter on 30.06.2017 and ultimately committed suicide on 04.07.2017.
- The Appellant prayed before the High Court for quashing the offense. However, the High Court rejected the prayer. Therefore, the present Appeal.
Issues
- Whether as per the facts, the appellants instigated the deceased to commit suicide?
- Whether instigation must be in close proximity to suicide to attract offence under Section 306 of IPC?
Held
- Apex Court allowed the Appeal as the incident of abuse occurred more than two weeks before the suicide and did not constitute direct instigation or an immediate cause for the suicide as required under Section 306 IPC.
- To attract the first clause (of section 107), there must be instigation in some form on the part of the accused to cause the deceased to commit suicide. Hence, the accused must have mens rea to instigate the deceased to commit suicide. The act of instigation must be of such intensity that it is intended to push the deceased to such a position under which he or she has no choice but to commit suicide. Such instigation must be in close proximity to the act of committing suicide.
- It is impossible to conclude that the appellants instigated the deceased to commit suicide by demanding the payment of the amount borrowed by the third respondent from her husband by using abusive language and by assaulting him by a belt for that purpose. The said incident allegedly happened more than two weeks before the date of suicide. There is no allegation that any act was done by the appellants in the close proximity to the date of suicide. By no stretch of the imagination, the alleged acts of the appellants can amount to instigation to commit suicide.
Relevant Para No.
- 8, 9, 10