When offence of abetment of suicide is not made out against Judicial officer?
As has been held by Their Lordships of the Apex Court
that for permitting a trial to proceed against the accused for the
offence punishable under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, it is
necessary for the prosecution to at least prima facie establish that
the accused had an intention to aid or instigate or abet the
deceased to commit suicide. In the absence of availability of such
material, the accused cannot be compelled to face trial for the
offence punishable under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code. As
has been held by Their Lordships of the Apex Court that abetment
involves mental process of instigating a person or intentionally
aiding a person in doing of a thing and without a positive act on the
part of the accused in aiding or instigating or abeting the deceased
to commit suicide, the said persons cannot be compelled to face
the trial. Unless there is clear mens rea to commit an offence or
active act or direct act, which led the deceased to commit suicide
seeing no option or the act intending to push the deceased into
such a position, the trial against the accused under Section 306 of
the Indian Penal Code, in our considered view, would be an abuse
of process of law.
21. No doubt that the judiciary has lost one of its officers in
an unfortunate incident. However, as held by the Hon'ble Supreme
Court, the response of a person to a situation may differ from a
person to person. A person, who is sensitive, may be hurt if the
things do not happen as per his wish and may unfortunately
commit an act, which leads to his death. No doubt, our all
sympathies are with the family of the Judicial Officer, who lost his
life in prime age. However, can that be said to be sufficient to
prosecute the other Judicial Officers, for no fault of theirs. As
already discussed hereinabove, except applicant no.1, there is not
even whisper in the affidavit of the non-applicant no.2 insofar as
the other applicants are concerned. Even the allegations against
the applicant no.1 are with regard to discharge of his official duties.
As pointed out hereinabove, it cannot also be a case of harassment
inasmuch as the deceased was the junior most Judicial Officer in
the cadre of Civil Judge Senior Division and transferring him out of
the District headquarters to another place in the same district,
cannot be said to be an act by the applicant no.1 causing
harassment to the deceased. If the deceased had any grievance
against his superiors, it was always open for him to approach the
learned Guardian Judge of the District or Registry of this Court.
22. In any case, the transfer of the deceased from Yavatmal
to Darwha had taken place on 01.10.2015. The workshop, in which
it is alleged that the applicant no.1 had ill-treated the deceased,
had taken place on 14.02.2016 and the unfortunate incident of
suicide has taken place on 06.03.2016. Thus, it can be clearly
seen that even the causes of action, which are attributed as an
abetment to commit suicide are also far remote from the date of
death of the deceased. As already discussed hereinabove, in the
case of Sanju @ Sanjay Sengar, the allegation that you go and die
and the deceased committing suicide after 48 hours, was found to
have no nexus with the suicide.
23. In that view of the matter, we are of the considered view
that continuation of criminal proceedings against the present
applicants would result in an abuse of process of law and as such
we are inclined to allow the application.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR
CRIMINAL APPLICATION [APL] NO. 332 OF 2016
1] Dilip S/o Ramrao Shirasao,
Aged about 59 years, Occu. Service.
2] Sachin Manoharrao Agarkar,
Aged 49 years, Occu. Service,
3] Durgadas Nivrutti Khadse,
Aged 52 years, Occu. Service,
4] Himmat Laxman Manwar,
Aged about 50 years, Occu. Service.
5] Ravindra Padmakarrao Deshpande,
Aged 53 years, Occu. Service
All resident of Yavatmal,
Tah. and Dist. Yavatmal. .. APPLICANTS
.. Versus ..
1] State of Maharashtra,
Through Police Station Officer,
Chandur Railway Police Station,
Tal. Chandur Railway, Dist. Amravati.
2] Amol S/o Dinkar Jawalkar,
Aged about 37 years, Occu. Not known,
R/o Pimpri Meghe,
Tah. & Dist. Wardha. .. NON-APPLICANTS
CORAM : B.R. Gavai & V. M. Deshpande, JJ.
DATED : August 05, 2016.
https://www.lawweb.in/2016/08/when-offence-of-abetment-of-suicide-is.html
that for permitting a trial to proceed against the accused for the
offence punishable under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, it is
necessary for the prosecution to at least prima facie establish that
the accused had an intention to aid or instigate or abet the
deceased to commit suicide. In the absence of availability of such
material, the accused cannot be compelled to face trial for the
offence punishable under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code. As
has been held by Their Lordships of the Apex Court that abetment
involves mental process of instigating a person or intentionally
aiding a person in doing of a thing and without a positive act on the
part of the accused in aiding or instigating or abeting the deceased
to commit suicide, the said persons cannot be compelled to face
the trial. Unless there is clear mens rea to commit an offence or
active act or direct act, which led the deceased to commit suicide
seeing no option or the act intending to push the deceased into
such a position, the trial against the accused under Section 306 of
the Indian Penal Code, in our considered view, would be an abuse
of process of law.
21. No doubt that the judiciary has lost one of its officers in
an unfortunate incident. However, as held by the Hon'ble Supreme
Court, the response of a person to a situation may differ from a
person to person. A person, who is sensitive, may be hurt if the
things do not happen as per his wish and may unfortunately
commit an act, which leads to his death. No doubt, our all
sympathies are with the family of the Judicial Officer, who lost his
life in prime age. However, can that be said to be sufficient to
prosecute the other Judicial Officers, for no fault of theirs. As
already discussed hereinabove, except applicant no.1, there is not
even whisper in the affidavit of the non-applicant no.2 insofar as
the other applicants are concerned. Even the allegations against
the applicant no.1 are with regard to discharge of his official duties.
As pointed out hereinabove, it cannot also be a case of harassment
inasmuch as the deceased was the junior most Judicial Officer in
the cadre of Civil Judge Senior Division and transferring him out of
the District headquarters to another place in the same district,
cannot be said to be an act by the applicant no.1 causing
harassment to the deceased. If the deceased had any grievance
against his superiors, it was always open for him to approach the
learned Guardian Judge of the District or Registry of this Court.
22. In any case, the transfer of the deceased from Yavatmal
to Darwha had taken place on 01.10.2015. The workshop, in which
it is alleged that the applicant no.1 had ill-treated the deceased,
had taken place on 14.02.2016 and the unfortunate incident of
suicide has taken place on 06.03.2016. Thus, it can be clearly
seen that even the causes of action, which are attributed as an
abetment to commit suicide are also far remote from the date of
death of the deceased. As already discussed hereinabove, in the
case of Sanju @ Sanjay Sengar, the allegation that you go and die
and the deceased committing suicide after 48 hours, was found to
have no nexus with the suicide.
23. In that view of the matter, we are of the considered view
that continuation of criminal proceedings against the present
applicants would result in an abuse of process of law and as such
we are inclined to allow the application.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR
CRIMINAL APPLICATION [APL] NO. 332 OF 2016
1] Dilip S/o Ramrao Shirasao,
Aged about 59 years, Occu. Service.
2] Sachin Manoharrao Agarkar,
Aged 49 years, Occu. Service,
3] Durgadas Nivrutti Khadse,
Aged 52 years, Occu. Service,
4] Himmat Laxman Manwar,
Aged about 50 years, Occu. Service.
5] Ravindra Padmakarrao Deshpande,
Aged 53 years, Occu. Service
All resident of Yavatmal,
Tah. and Dist. Yavatmal. .. APPLICANTS
.. Versus ..
1] State of Maharashtra,
Through Police Station Officer,
Chandur Railway Police Station,
Tal. Chandur Railway, Dist. Amravati.
2] Amol S/o Dinkar Jawalkar,
Aged about 37 years, Occu. Not known,
R/o Pimpri Meghe,
Tah. & Dist. Wardha. .. NON-APPLICANTS
CORAM : B.R. Gavai & V. M. Deshpande, JJ.
DATED : August 05, 2016.
https://www.lawweb.in/2016/08/when-offence-of-abetment-of-suicide-is.html
