In Brief
The appellant was convicted of abetting his brother-in-law's suicide under Section 306 IPC based on allegations of harassment and a slap administered at a Panchayat held five months before the suicide. The High Court upheld the conviction while acquitting the other two co-accused on similar charges. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction, holding that abetment of suicide requires positive action proximate to the suicide, not mere harassment. A single incident of violence separated by five months from the suicide, without evidence of proximate causation or continuous instigation, cannot support conviction. The Court noted the inconsistency of convicting one accused while acquitting others on identical allegations."
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