ORDER :

1. The petitioner has filed this petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short, the Cr.P.C.) for quashing of the charge-sheet and FIR registered for the offence punishable under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, the IPC) in Crime No.126/2016 at Police Station – Newai, District Durg and quashing of the charge dated 18.09.2017 passed in Sessions Trial No. 172/2016 by the learned 7th Additional Sessions Judge, Durg.

2. Brief facts of the case are that the husband of the deceased, namely, Naresh Yadav who is a government teacher had introduced a government scheme relating to Prime Minister Vikas Kaushal Scheme to the present petitioner and given detail of the benefits that if under the aforesaid scheme, any institution works, then they will be able to get Rs. 10,000/- per student on the condition that the student will firstly have to deposit Rs. 12,000/-. The petitioner provided about Rs. 10 Lakhs to the husband of the deceased for the aforesaid Kaushal Vikas Yojna with the help of Leela's Foundation. The deceased had submitted applications of about 2000 student and when the money was deposited under the government scheme in the account of Leela's Foundation, the husband of the deceased, namely, Naresh Yadav had dishonestly not returned the share of the money to the concerned institution including the institution of the petitioner, who has already spent about Rs. 10 Lakhs for the benefit of aforesaid scheme. The husband of the deceased in whose account the Leela's Foundation has deposited the huge money of the institutions but Naresh Yadav stated that he had not taken back the amount from the Leela’s Foundation even he has not returned the money to the investor including the present petitioner and when the present petitioner made a request to Naresh Yadav to repay the amount, whatsoever he had taken from the petitioner. On the date of incident, since morning, as Naresh Yadav did not receive the phone call of the petitioner, she sent some message on the phone of husband of the deceased and subsequently, the petitioner came to know that the wife of Naresh Yadav along with her three children had consumed some poisonous substance i.e. Harpic and written a suicide note. The children survived while the wife of Naresh Yadav expired. Accordingly, the prosecution agency has filed charge sheet against the petitioner for an offence under section 306 of the IPC by registered a Crime No.126/2016.

3. The learned trial Court, vide order dated 18.09.2017, without there being any ingredients against the present petitioner, has framed charges under Section 306 of the IPC read with Section 107 of the IPC against the petitioner. Further, the petitioner has filed an application under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act against the husband of the deceased which indicates that the husband of the deceased, namely, Naresh Yadav had taken money from the petitioner. Hence this petition.

4. Mr. Awadh Tripathi, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that neither in the dying declaration nor in the F.I.R. as well as the other material, there is any kind of instigation on the part of the petitioner, even there is no material which indicates that anything has transpired in between the deceased and the present petitioner, so there is no material for charging the petitioner for the offence of abetting the deceased to commit suicide. It is further submitted that there is no mens rea on the part of the petitioner to commit the offence. The intention of the legislature and the ratio of the cases decided by this court are clear that in order to prosecute a person under section 306 of IPC, there has to be a clear mens rea to commit the offence. It also requires an active act or direct act, which may lead the deceased to commit suicide seeing no option and this act must have been intended to push the deceased into such a position to commit suicide.

5. Mr. Tripathi further submits that the deceased has consumed som