Words Need Not Compel Victim To Commit Suicide; Suggestive 'Instigation' Sufficient For Abetment: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court recently held that to satisfy the requirement of 'instigation' leading to the offence of abetment of suicide, the words of the accused need not be such as to compel the victim to commit suicide and it would be sufficient if the same is suggestive of the consequence.Justice V.G. Arun was considering a plea to quash the criminal proceedings initiated against the petitioner for commission of the offences under Sections 306 [Abetment to suicide] and 113 [Liability of abettor for an effect caused by the act abetted different from that intended by the abettor] of the Indian Penal Code.According to the final report, the victim Ramesh and his wife had started a business venture and the money towards shares of the accused was invested by the victim on the accused's assurance that it would be repaid. The investment was raised by the victim from the funds of his proprietary concern.The accused was in charge of the daily affairs of the business venture but since it was improperly managed, the company ended up being in a financial crisis and it was unable to pay even the salaries of employees. The accused asked the employees and creditors of the business venture to demand payment from the victim. According to the suicide note, the victim committed suicide after receiving a call from the petitioner/accused.The senior counsel representing the petitioner argued that the allegations made against him are false and also the allegation that he had called the victim on the night of the incident cannot be accepted since the call records were not seized or produced. It was also contended that there should be close proximity between the act of instigation and commission of suicide.However, the prosecutor argued that it cannot be said that there is no proximity between the instigation and suicide since the suicide note indicates that the final act of suicide was committed just after answering the petitioner's call.Considering the submissions and after noting that the entire documents in the final report are not produced before it, the Court was of the opinion that the proximity between the instigation and suicide can only be established on appreciation of evidence in a trial. It remarked that the High Court cannot conduct a mini trial while exercising inherent powers.“The suicide note mentions about the treachery committed by the accused. The note also contains a tailpiece where the author has noted that the petitioner had called over phone and threatened that he will be taught a lesson. In order to satisfy the requirement of instigation, it is not necessary that the words spoken must be capable of compelling the victims to commit suicide. It would suffice if the instigation is suggestive of the consequence. Whether the alleged offensive acts of the accused are so proximate as to have a clear nexus with the suicide instigation, can be decided only on a wholesome consideration of the facts and circumstances,” observed the Court.Thus, it dismissed the petition. The Court also made it clear that the petitioner is entitled to approach the trial court with a discharge petition and the trial court is bound to pass a reasoned order after considering the same.Case No: Crl.M.C. No. 1229 of 2021Case Title: Sivadasan Nair K.G. v. State of KeralaCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 704Counsel for the petitioner: Dr. S. Gopakumaran Nair (Sr.), S. Prasanth, Sooraj T. Elenjickal, K. Arjun Venugopal, Aswin Kumar M J, Arun Roy, Shahir Showkath Ali, Helen P.A.Counsel for the respondent: Sanal P. Raj – Public ProsecutorClick to Read/Download Judgment

Words Need Not Compel Victim To Commit Suicide; Suggestive 'Instigation' Sufficient For Abetment: Kerala High Court

K. Salma Jennath

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