Ten years after a then 22-year-old actor Sooraj Pancholi, son of actor Aditya Pancholi, was charged with abetting the suicide of his partner and upcoming actor Jiah Khan, a special court on Friday acquitted him. In its 51-page judgment, the court noted that the 25-year-old had suicidal tendencies and it cannot be said that the accused had driven her to die by suicide.
The court said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to prove that there was any action on the part of the accused that compelled Jiah to die by suicide. There is “absolutely no evidence” to show that on the day of the incident Sooraj had acted in any manner that would reflect his intention that he wanted her to die by suicide, the judgment stated. “In the absence of any mens rea (intention), instigation or aid, it cannot be said that the accused had driven her to commit suicide..” Special CBI Judge AS Sayyad said.
Referring to the testimony of a witness who had worked as an associate producer with Jiah, the court concluded that primarily Jiah was not happy with roles offered to her and was struggling for a good position in the film industry. Sooraj had claimed in his defence represented by advocate Prashant Patil, that Jiah was suffering from depression, resulting in the unfortunate incident. The court said in this regard it finds the testimony of a doctor Jiah had consulted for stress management, to be significant. The doctor had told the court that Jiah had stated her stress to be work-related.
Jiah’s mother Rabia Khan had alleged it was a case of murder, not suicide and had approached higher courts too with the allegation. The court relied on the testimony of a doctor who had conducted the actor’s post mortem examination and said the medical evidence suggests Jiah died of hanging and not as stated by her mother.
Judge Sayyad referred to a letter allegedly written by Jiah that her family found four days after her death and lodged a complaint against Sooraj. The court said the gap of four days is not satisfactorily explained by the complainant. It also called it “interesting” that the letter was written by Jiah in the notebook of her mother. The court referred to the testimony of an investigating officer who stated that the mother had refused to hand it over to police, but got it published in the electronic media instead. Rabia had told court during her testimony that she had got the letter notarized and only then given it to police. The court said the letter was not found to be notarized as stated by her and said, “The circumstances as above create serious suspicion regarding the actual author of said letter.”
The court also pointed to the delay of six days by the mother in filing the FIR and called the delay “fatal” to the prosecution case. Regarding Rabia’s own testimony before it, the court said she was a crucial witness of the prosecution and had openly showed distrust of it and while the prosecution called it a case of suicide, she alleged it was murder. “The complainant herself destroyed the case of the prosecution,” the order read. The defence had brought the court’s attention that a few days after Jiah’s death, the family had celebrated her sister’s engagement ceremony. It remarked on the mother and said her conduct does not look like that of a normal person who in such a situation of grief also celebrates.
Further, referring to letters of Jiah seized from Sooraj’s home, the court said these showed that the couple was deeply in love and that Jiah had given credit to Sooraj for making her stable in life. It pointed to the evidence that had come on the court’s record and said that on an earlier occasion, Jiah had attempted suicide and it was Sooraj who had called a doctor. The accused had treated the deceased and had tried to get her out of depression, it noted.
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