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The Delhi High Court has discharged Mayank Singhvi, husband of late flight attendant Anissia Batra, of charges of cruelty and abetment of suicide in the 2018 suicide case.

Justice Madhu Jain held that the prosecution material did not disclose the essential ingredients of either offence.

The Court also upheld the discharge of Singhvi under Section 304B of IPC (dowry death) and affirmed the discharge of his parents of charges under Sections 304B and 498A of IPC.

Anissia (39), who was married to Mayank Singhvi for two years, worked with a German airline. She allegedly jumped from the terrace of her house in Panchsheel Park in South Delhi on July 13, 2018.

Justice Madhu Jain held that matrimonial discord, harassment or a strained relationship, without a positive and intentional contribution contemplated under Section 107 of IPC, cannot by itself constitute abetment of suicide.

The Court observed that even where a deceased woman leaves a message attributing responsibility for her suicide to another person, such an attribution, by itself, does not establish the offence of abetment.

"The deceased's attribution of responsibility to another person is a relevant piece of evidence, but it does not by itself determine, whether the person named has committed the offence under Section 306 of IPC," the Court observed.

The judgment was passed in revision petitions filed by Anissia's mother, Mayank Singhvi and the State challenging a December 2019 order of the Saket Sessions Court.

The Sessions Court had discharged Mayank Singhvi of the dowry death charge under Section 304B of IPC but directed framing of charges against him under Sections 498A and 306 of IPC. His parents were discharged of the charges under Sections 304B and 498A of IPC.

The prosecution alleged that the deceased was subjected to physical and mental cruelty, monetary demands and pressure concerning the sale proceeds of a flat jointly owned by her and her mother.

Her mother had alleged that the husband and his parents repeatedly demanded money and that the matrimonial discord had escalated in the period preceding her death.

The prosecution also relied upon WhatsApp messages allegedly sent by Anissia shortly before her death. In one message to her friend, she reportedly stated that she was going to kill herself because Mayank had driven her to it.

Disposing of the pleas, the Court held that an unnatural death within seven years of marriage, even when accompanied by allegations of matrimonial cruelty, does not automatically attract Section 304B of IPC.

The Court emphasised that every financial demand or transaction during marriage cannot be treated as dowry unless the necessary connection with the marriage emerges from the nature of the demand and surrounding circumstances.

Before parting, the Court expressed concern over the tendency to implicate the husband's relatives in matrimonial disputes through sweeping allegations of cruelty.

It observed that the anguish arising from a troubled marriage cannot justify dragging the entire family into criminal proceedings without attributing a specific role to the persons concerned.

"The law must therefore, afford effective protection to a woman subjected to cruelty, while ensuring that relatives are not made to face prosecution merely because of their relationship with the husband, and even the husbands should not be, without cause, penalized," the Court said.

The Court also emphasised that parents should provide timely support to daughters who report violence or persistent mistreatment in their marriages.

"A daughter's return to her parents should never be regarded as a matter of shame for them. Preserving a marriage cannot take precedence over her safety and dignity," it observed.

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the revision petitions filed by deceased's mother and the State, while allowing the husband's revision petition and discharging him of the offences under Sections 498A and 306 of IPC.

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