In Brief
The appellants were charged under Section 306 IPC (abetment of suicide) following the death of Dinesh, who allegedly was harassed by his wife and her relatives. The Supreme Court allowed their appeal and quashed the criminal proceedings. The Court held that for abetment of suicide to be established, there must be cogent proof of direct or indirect incitement to commit suicide with temporal proximity to the suicide. Here, although harassment allegedly occurred on 10 November 2013, the suicide took place nearly a month later on 9 December 2013, with no contact or pressure in the interim period. The essential ingredients of abetment under Section 107 IPC were absent, making the continuation of proceedings an abuse of process.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.