False criminal case threat not abetment of suicide: High Court

Kolkata: In a case where a person committed suicide allegedly because of threats from his tenants, the Calcutta High Court ruled that a threat of implicating someone with false criminal case does not gain the status of abetment to commit suicide by the victim.

The bench of Justice Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee was moved by the petitioners, a couple, against whom chargesheet was filed under Section 306 IPC (abetment to suicide).

The complainant alleged his brother committed suicide in 2012 because the couple, who were tenants at the house of the victim, inflicted mental and physical torture on him.

The victim had asked the petitioners to move out since they were carrying out anti-social activities from the flat in collusion with police.

The petitioners’ counsel submitted that during the probe the prosecution didn’t place any document regarding alleged illegal activities in the house. No suicide note was found. The victim was not staying at the tenanted premises but lived two kms away. Hence, there’s no question of abetting him to commit suicide.

Complainant’s counsel submitted that one of the petitioners, a woman, threatened to implicate the victim in false criminal cases. It was evident from newspaper reports that the petitioners along with police were carrying out “honey trap business” from the premises. The court observed that unless it is found that the accused had the guilty intention (mens rea) to commit the crime, he could not be held guilty of committing the crime. The court said the materials so far placed did not reveal the existence of such an intention on the part of the petitioners. There is no proof that they instigated the victim.

Quashing the criminal proceedings, the court observed: “…a threat of implicating someone with false criminal case does not gain the status of abetment to commit suicide by the victim.”