Mahendra Awase vs The State of Madhya Pradesh

Held: No – For conviction u/s.306, the person who is said to have abetted the commission of suicide must have played an active role by an act of instigation or by doing certain act to facilitate the commission of suicide – Such act of abetment must be proved and established by the prosecution – Further, to satisfy the requirement of instigation, the accused by his act or omission or by a continued course of conduct should have created such circumstances that the deceased was left with no other option except to commit suicide – Suicide note revealed that the appellant was asking the deceased to repay the loan guaranteed by the deceased and advanced to one ‘RM’ – Thus, the appellant by performing his duty of realising outstanding loans at the behest of his employer cannot be said to have instigated the deceased to commit suicide – Appellant did not intend to instigate the commission of suicide – It could certainly not be said that the appellant by his acts created circumstances which left the deceased with no other option except to commit suicide – The exchanges with the deceased, though heated, were not with the intent to leave him with no other option but to commit suicide – Also, the FIR was also lodged after a delay of two months and twenty days – There were no grounds to frame charges u/s.306 against the appellant – Discharged – Proceedings quashed, set aside – Impugned order also set aside. [Paras 16, 19, 21] Penal Code, 1860 – s.306 – Abetment of suicide – Threshold to attract s.306 is higher – Charges not to be framed mechanically, Courts to be cautious – Police to be sensitised: Held: s.306 is casually and too readily resorted to by the police – While the persons involved in genuine cases where the threshold is met should not be spared, the provision should not be deployed against individuals, only to assuage the immediate feelings of the distraught family of the deceased – The conduct of the proposed accused and the deceased, their interactions and conversations preceding the unfortunate death of the deceased should be approached from a practical point of view and not divorced from day-to-day realities of life – Hyperboles employed in exchanges should not, without anything more, be glorified as an instigation to commit suicide – Investigating agencies to be sensitised so that persons are not subjected to the abuse of process of a totally untenable prosecution – Trial courts must also exercise great caution and circumspection and should not adopt a play it safe syndrome by mechanically framing charges, even when the investigating agencies have shown utter disregard for the ingredients of s.306 – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 – ss.108, 45. [Para 20]

Penal Code, 1860 – ss.306, 107 – Ingredient of s.306 – When attracted – Discussed.