BENGALURU: Precious lives would not be lost if every citizen treated persons belonging to the LGBTQ community as normal human beings, the Karnataka High Court said. Justice M Nagaprasanna made the observation while rejecting a petition filed by three accused, questioning a case registered against them by the Bengaluru police for allegedly harassing and abetting the suicide of one of their colleagues, Vivek Raj, who was an LGBTQ member.
The three accused are Malathy SB, deputy general manager (marketing), Kumar Suraj, vice-president (human resources) and Nitish Kumar, assistant manager (marketing), Lifestyle International. They were booked under Sections 306 and 34 of the IPC following a complaint filed by the Whitefield Police.
Vivek Raj (35), who was a bachelor of design from the National institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Bengaluru, was working as manager, visual merchandising, at the company since September 2022 in Bengaluru.
“The deceased belongs to the LGBTQ community. The sensitivity of them being ostracised pervades in their psyche. Therefore, such people must be treated with all love and affection. If every citizen would treat such citizens with all love and care, as is done to a normal human, precious lives would not be lost. Unfortunately, the life of a youth is lost in the case at hand, all for the prima facie allegations pointing at the sexual orientation of the deceased,” the court said.
The deceased committed suicide on June 3, 2023, and the crime was registered the very next day. The accused moved the court on June 7, 2023. The court observed that if the accused have played an active role in tarnishing or destroying the self-esteem or self-respect of a hypersensitive person, they would definitely become guilty of commission of abetment to suicide.