The Karnataka High Court recently quashed a lower court order that had convicted a woman and her partner for abetment of suicide of the woman’s husband..Justice Shivashankar Amarannavar held that the woman’s husband dying by suicide due to her illicit relationship with the co-accused, was not adequate ground for convicting them for the offence of abetment of suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.Justice Amarannvar further held that though the accused had asked the deceased to “go die” a few days before the incident, mere utterance of such words without any instigation did not amount to abetment..“Accused Nos. 1 and 2 had not intended that the deceased should commit suicide. Merely because the accused persons asked the deceased to go and die so that they can life happily will not amount to abetment. It appears, that the deceased was sensitive as his wife - accused No. 1 had illicit relationship with accused No. 2 and upset by that, he might have committed suicide. The evidence on record will not establish that the accused persons, by their acts, abetted the deceased to commit suicide,” the High Court said.Therefore, it set aside the trial court’s order convicting the appellants, Prema and Basavalinge Gowda and acquitted them of all charges in the case..Advocate AN Radha Krishna appeared for Prema and Gowda, the appellants.High Court Government Plea B Lakshman appeared for the State..[Read Judgement]
The Karnataka High Court recently quashed a lower court order that had convicted a woman and her partner for abetment of suicide of the woman’s husband..Justice Shivashankar Amarannavar held that the woman’s husband dying by suicide due to her illicit relationship with the co-accused, was not adequate ground for convicting them for the offence of abetment of suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.Justice Amarannvar further held that though the accused had asked the deceased to “go die” a few days before the incident, mere utterance of such words without any instigation did not amount to abetment..“Accused Nos. 1 and 2 had not intended that the deceased should commit suicide. Merely because the accused persons asked the deceased to go and die so that they can life happily will not amount to abetment. It appears, that the deceased was sensitive as his wife - accused No. 1 had illicit relationship with accused No. 2 and upset by that, he might have committed suicide. The evidence on record will not establish that the accused persons, by their acts, abetted the deceased to commit suicide,” the High Court said.Therefore, it set aside the trial court’s order convicting the appellants, Prema and Basavalinge Gowda and acquitted them of all charges in the case..Advocate AN Radha Krishna appeared for Prema and Gowda, the appellants.High Court Government Plea B Lakshman appeared for the State..[Read Judgement]
