JUDGMENT - R.M. LODHA, J.:---Rule. Heard forthwith.

Attempt to suicide, an offence provided under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, having been effaced from the statute book and declared violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India by the Apex Court, has led the petitioner to seek a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction for declaration of section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (for short "the I.P.C.") as unconstitutional and ultra-vires of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. The additional relief sought for in the writ petition is that the proceedings before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nagpur, in Crime No. 86 of 1994 be quashed and declared wholly untenable.

2. Before we examine the constitutional validity of section 306 of the I.P.C., the only point urged by the learned Counsel for the petitioner, a brief resume of facts may be stated.

3. Crime No. 86 of 1994 was registered at Imambada Police Station, Nagpur, against the petitioners on 26-4-1994 for the alleged offence under section 306 of the I.P.C. for abetment of suicide of Smt. Lilawati, mother of the petitioner No. 2 and mother-in-law of the petitioner No. 1. An offence und

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