Instigation Must Be In Close Proximity To Suicide: Supreme Court Quashes FIR U/s. 306 IPC For Alleged Incident Of Provocation Two Weeks Before Death

In this case, the appellants were accused of an offence punishable under Section 306 of the IPC, based on a complaint filed by the third respondent, who was the widow of the deceased. The complaint alleged that the first appellant, from whom the third respondent had borrowed money, had threatened, abused, and assaulted the deceased and his family.

A two-judge Bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal held, “it is impossible to conclude that the appellants instigated the deceased to commit suicide by demanding the payment of the amount borrowed by the third respondent from her husband by using abusive language and by assaulting him by a belt for that purpose. The said incident allegedly happened more than two weeks before the date of suicide. There is no allegation that any act was done by the appellants in the close proximity to the date of suicide. By no stretch of the imagination, the alleged acts of the appellants can amount to instigation to commit suicide.”

Advocate Aakash Sirohi appeared for the Appellants and Advocate Sudarshan Singh Rawat appeared for the Respondents.

The third respondent had claimed that the deceased took his life due to the actions and threats made by the appellants. The prosecution relied on a suicide note purportedly written by the deceased, along with the complaint, to make a case under Section 306 of the IPC.

The appellants argued that even if the allegations were taken as true, the deceased was under stress because of financial issues and a legal notice issued to him, and therefore, the offence under Section 306 was not made out.

The Court analyzed the suicide note and the sequence of events. It noted that the alleged incident of threats and assault occurred more than two weeks before the suicide, and there was no evidence of any further interaction between the appellants and the deceased in that period. The Court added, “In the facts of the case, secondly and thirdly in Section 107, will have no application. Hence, the question is whether the appellants instigated the deceased to commit suicide. To attract the first clause, there must be instigation in some form on the part of the accused to cause the deceased to commit suicide. Hence, the accused must have mens rea to instigate the deceased to commit suicide.”

The Court emphasized that for Section 306 to apply, there must be instigation by the accused leading to the suicide, and such instigation must be in close proximity to the act of suicide. The Court said, “The act of instigation must be of such intensity that it is intended to push the deceased to such a position under which he or she has no choice but to commit suicide. Such instigation must be in close proximity to the act of committing suicide.”

The Court found that the appellants' actions did not amount to instigation and that the continuance of their prosecution would be an abuse of the legal process, the court set aside the impugned judgment and quashed the summoning order.

The appeal was allowed.

Cause Title: Mohit Singhal & Anr. v. The State Of Uttarakhand & Ors., [2023 INSC 1035]

Appearance

Appellants: AOR Aakash Sirohi, Advocates Indra Lal and Neema

Respondents: AOR Sudarshan Singh Rawat, Advocates Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, Saakshi Singh Rawat, Sunny Sachin Rawat

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