New Delhi, Oct 13 A Delhi court has acquitted a woman accused of abetting her husband’s suicide in 2015, saying criminal liability cannot be founded merely upon the fact that the deceased was subjected to ordinary matrimonial discord.
Additional Sessions Judge Syed Zishan Ali Warsi, in a recent order, acquitted the accused wife, Swati, of the offence under IPC Section 306 (abetment of suicide), underlining that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that she instigated or intentionally aided her husband to take his life.
According to the prosecution, Amit committed suicide by hanging on July 20, 2015, in a rented room in Munirka. The couple had married on February 22, 2015, and Swati was pregnant at the time.
The prosecution claimed that Swati used to quarrel with her husband over his small mobile shop and pressed him to take a job.
The charge, framed in June 2017, was that she abetted the suicide by “mentally torturing” her husband.
Police relied on a suicide note, according to which the deceased was “very upset” with his wife, who “day and night” accused him of an affair that he said was not true.
In its 130-page order, the court said that none of the prosecution witnesses mentioned any specific act of abetment, other than general quarrels.
The court noted that the witnesses admitted that the quarrels were only verbal, that no complaint was made to the police or any relative, and that they had known Amit ran a mobile shop even before the wedding.
It cited several judicial precedents, according to which there must be a clear intention to push the person to suicide, and a positive act close in time to the death that left the person with no other option. Harassment alone, or words said in a fit of anger, are not enough, it said.
The court said that there was no specific act of abetment.
It said that even if some harsh words were spoken, they appeared to be an isolated utterance in anger, instead of instigation as they were not backed by any intention that the husband should actually die.
The court said pregnancy by itself cannot excuse an accused if the offence is otherwise made out. But it said the prosecution produced no evidence that she intended to drive him to suicide while expecting his child.
“Matrimonial relationships may involve disagreements, arguments, taunts and emotional exchanges. Such conduct may undoubtedly be unpleasant, hurtful or even abusive, but criminal liability under Section 306 IPC cannot be founded merely upon the fact that the deceased was subjected to ordinary matrimonial discord or that he was sensitive to words spoken by his spouse,” the court said.
It said the prosecution must establish a sufficiently proximate and intentional connection between the conduct attributed to the accused and the suicide.
The court said that the decision to commit suicide may be influenced by the individual’s subjective experience of mental pain, fear, humiliation, loss of self-esteem, hopelessness or an inability to cope with perceived circumstances of which the other spouse may not be aware.
It said such individual vulnerability, however, cannot by itself convert every act of matrimonial discord or every harsh utterance by another person into abetment of suicide.
“A person differently situated, confronted with the same matrimonial or financial circumstances, may respond differently, having regard to his responsibilities, family circumstances and capacity to cope with emotional distress,” the court said.
It said there is no evidence of any active, direct or intentional act on her part immediately before the occurrence which would leave her husband with no alternative except suicide.
“Consequently, even if the allegations of matrimonial discord and the alleged harsh words are accepted in their entirety, they do not, in the facts and circumstances of the present case, establish the ingredients of abetment of suicide beyond reasonable doubt,” the court said, acquitting the wife.
(PTI News)
