NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has recently ruled that an employer cannot be held responsible for an employee’s suicide solely due to strict or harsh decisions made in the course of duty unless criminal intent to incite the act is proven.
The observation was made by Justice Amit Sharma while dismissing a trial court’s summons against Dr G K Arora, former principal of Delhi University’s B R Ambedkar College, and senior assistant Ravinder Singh, both implicated in a 2013 suicide abetment case.
The court’s judgment stated that an employer may indeed make decisions that cause distress to employees, but unless there is intent to drive an employee to end their life, such actions do not amount to abetment of suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.
“The person holding a certain post must take decisions in the course of duty that, while sometimes harsh, do not equate to incitement or abetment without the necessary criminal mens rea,” Justice Sharma remarked.
The case traces back to the self-immolation of a female college employee outside the Delhi Secretariat in 2013. In her dying statement and a suicide note, she attributed her action to what she described as harassment from Dr Arora, Ravinder Singh, and several senior officials, including then-Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the Delhi University Vice-Chancellor. She alleged excessive workload, physical and mental harassment, and unjust termination from her job in 2012, was the reasons of taking the extreme step.
The court, however, noted that multiple grievances raised by the deceased were investigated by statutory bodies and subsequently closed.
Justice Sharma said that there was a significant gap—over a year—between her termination and demise, during which the petitioners had no interaction with her that could be construed as contributing to her decision.