No 'Mens Rea'; Merely Filing 'False' Cases Against Husband Not Abetment Of Suicide: Allahabad HC Grants Relief To Wife

The Court said that the mere act of lodging cases alone, even if they are alleged to be false, does not establish the requisite mens rea (guilty intention) needed to constitute the offence under Section 306 IPC.

A bench of Sameer Jain thus quashed criminal proceedings against the wife and her family members, noting that there was nothing on record to show that they had any mens rea to abet the deceased (husband) to die by suicide.

"…in view of this Court merely by lodging cases even false cases it cannot be said that applicants were having mens rea to abet the deceased to commit suicide”, the single judge observed.

The bench also noted that even if the deceased was under distress due to the 'false' cases, it cannot be said that he did not have any other option except to die by suicide.

Case in brief

The bench was essentially dealing with a plea filed by the wife and her family members seeking to quash a charge-sheet and pending proceedings against them before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Saharanpur, in connection with the suicide of the husband.

Briefly put, the father of the deceased lodged an FIR in August 2022 alleging that the wife (petitioner) was pressuring his son for a share in the ancestral property and when he refused, she and her close relatives (other petitioners) allegedly harassed him and lodged false cases.

It was further claimed that the deceased had to quit his job, and he lived in extreme distress due to the pending case. Ultimately, in July 2022, he died by suicide by causing a firearm injury to himself.

Importantly, during the investigation, the police recovered a purported suicide note which detailed that due to the torture of the applicants, the deceased was in great distress, as for the past 2 years, he had been facing false cases lodged by them, and hence, he was compelled to die by suicide.

After the investigation, a charge-sheet was filed against them u/S 306 IPC, upon which the court concerned took the cognizance and issued summons to the applicants. Hence, the applicants moved the HC challenging the case proceedings.

The Counsel for the wife argued that if the husband dies by suicide due to the court cases lodged by his wife, even then the wife and her family members can't be held liable.

It was also contended that to prove offence u/s 306 IPC, it must be shown that the person was left no option except to die by suicide. However, it was submitted that, in the present case, there was no material to prove the same.

The state and the counsel for the informant argued that the applicants had harassed the deceased in such a manner that he was left with no other option except to die by suicide.

High Court's order

Against the backdrop of these submissions, the High Court examined the essential ingredients of Section 306 IPC to note that the alleged suicide committed by the deceased must be in consequence of the instigation of the accused.

Justice Jain observed that while the deceased was indeed facing cases lodged by his wife and their matrimonial relationship was not cordial, prima facie, it cannot be said that suicide was in consequence of cases lodged by the applicants.

Furthermore, relying on the Supreme Court judgment in Amalendu Pal Vs. State of West Bengal, the High Court added that even if due to the false cases lodged by the applicant's side, the deceased was under distress, then also it cannot be said that he did not have any other option except to die by suicide.

The High Court also referred to the recent apex court judgment in Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi vs State Of Karnataka, wherein it was noted that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and commission of suicide depends heavily on the mental status of the victim.

Thus, concluding that there was no material showing any guilty intention on the part of the wife or her family, the High Court held that the charge-sheet was bad in law.

Hence, the Court allowed the applications and quashed the charge-sheet and all pending proceedings against the applicants.