NEW DELHI: Merely breaking up may not amount to instigation for a case of abetment of suicide under the criminal law, the Delhi High Court has said.
Justice Manoj Jain made the observation while dealing with a bail plea by a man accused of abetting the suicide of his former partner, who hanged herself five days after he got married to another woman.
Granting bail to the accused, the court observed that the instigation should be of such a nature that leaves the deceased with no option but to die by suicide. It said only a trial would establish whether the deceased’s “extreme step” was on account of provocation, instigation, “merely on account of her being a hyper-sensitive girl” or for some other reason.
The court noted, there was no dying declaration, and the parties were in a relationship for around eight years, during which there was no complaint from the deceased. The court observed there was a considerable gap between the date when the parties stopped talking and the date of the suicide.
“Though broken relationships and heartbreaks have become common these days, the mere breaking-up of a relationship may not constitute instigation so as to make it a case of abetment under sections of BNS,” the court said.
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