Supreme Court: Refusal to Marry Doesn't Constitute Abetment to Suicide
The Supreme Court today [November 29] overturned the conviction of a man charged with abetment to suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The charges stemmed from the suicide of his lover, allegedly due to his refusal to marry her.
A bench comprising Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan held that merely refusing to marry does not constitute instigation to commit suicide. The Court emphasized that for abetment to be established, it must be demonstrated that the accused, through actions, omissions, or sustained conduct, created circumstances that left the deceased with no other option but to take their own life.
Citing the recent case of Prabhu vs. State represented by Inspector of Police & Anr., the Court reiterated that heartbreaks and the dissolution of relationships are common in life and do not automatically amount to instigation or abetment of suicide. The Court observed, “we find that the accused-appellant had simply refused to marry the deceased and thus, even assuming there was love between the parties, it is only a case of broken relationship which by itself would not amount to abetment to suicide. The accused-appellant had not provoked the deceased in any manner to kill herself; rather the deceased herself carried poison in a bottle from her village while going to Kakati, Karnataka with a predetermined mind to positively get an affirmation from the accused-appellant to marry her, failing which she would commit suicide. Therefore, in such a situation simply because the accused-appellant refused to marry her, would not be a case of instigating, inciting or provoking the deceased to commit suicide.”
The judgment, authored by Justice Mithal, further stated that even if it were assumed—despite a lack of evidence—that the accused had promised to marry the deceased, the situation would still only amount to a broken relationship. It added, “Even assuming, though there is no evidence that the accused-appellant promised to marry the deceased, that there was such a promise, it is again a simple case of a broken relationship for which there is a different cause of action, but not prosecution or conviction for an offence under Section 306, specially in the facts and circumstances of the case where no guilty intention or mens rea on the part of the accused-appellant had been established.”
Consequently, the Court allowed the appeal and set aside the judgment convicting the appellant.
Case Title: KAMARUDDIN DASTAGIR SANADI VERSUS STATE OF KARNATAKA THROUGH SHO KAKATI POLICE
Date: November-29-2024
Bench: Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan
[Read/Download order here]
