Observing that there was no direct instigation or incitement, the Bombay High Court has granted pre-arrest bail to a woman and her alleged paramour accused of abetting the suicide of her estranged husband.
The HC noted that there is nothing to indicate that the duo indulged in a conduct of such a "compelling or oppressive nature" leaving the husband with no viable alternative but to resort to the extreme measure of suicide. “It prima facie appears that the applicants did not take any definitive action that directly led to the deceased's tragic decision to end his life,” Justice RN Laddha said on October 17.
The judge also emphasised that the provision pertaining to the abetment of suicide requires the accused person's culpability to be more than mere speculation or conjecture in the absence of direct inducement or incitement. “The abetment to commit suicide requires not merely the presence of circumstantial pressure but a direct and purposeful act of abetment or instigation,” the court added.
It also took into account that the marital discord between the deceased and his wife started well before he died by suicide.
The HC was hearing a petition filed by the woman and her alleged lover seeking pre-arrest bail in the case registered against them by her husband’s father.
As per the father’s complaint, his estranged daughter-in-law was involved in an extra-marital affair. He claimed that he repeatedly requested his son to divorce her due to her infidelity. Due to this, his son suffered from emotional distress and in this turmoil he committed suicide in May 2024, the father’s complaint claimed.
The duo, however, claimed that they were falsely implicated in the case contending that the couple had filed for divorce on mutual consent before the court as their marriage was already strained. However, the husband withdrew his consent to the divorce and in May 2023 threatened to kill himself. The woman said that she had lodged a non-cognizable complaint against her estranged husband.
