The necessity of mens rea for abetment of suicide and the significance of the suicide note in determining responsibility.

1. The accused is the appellant.

2. This appeal is directed against the conviction and sentence imposed in S.C.No.85 of 2016 on the file of the District and Sessions Judge, Mahila Fast Track Court, Erode, ordering the accused to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for 10 years and also to pay a fine of Rs.50,000/-, in default, to undergo further period of 2 years Simple Imprisonment for the offence under Section 306 IPC and further directed the said fine amount shall be paid to P.W.2/mother of the victim.

3. The facts necessary for the disposal of the appeal, are as follows :-

[i]. Manivannan-P.W.1 and Lakshmi-P.W.2 are the father and mother respectively of the deceased Shanthini. The deceased was a second year student in E.I.T. Polytechnic College at Gownthapadi. Murugesh-P.W.3 and Balusamy-P.W.4 were in the same class at the College. The appellant/Balaarasu was working as a Teacher in the said College.

[ii] On 07.03.2011, at about 11.00 a.m., when the appellant was giving lecture in the class, he found the deceased / Shantini chatting with another student sitting by her side. As the deceased was not listening attentively, the accused scolded her, slapped her, threw her bag and set her out of the class. The deceased, returned home in the evening and informed her mother-P.W.2 about the incident. P.W.2 consoled the deceased. She went out to purchase grocery and returned at about 6.30p.m. she found the deceased committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan, using her dupatta at her house. Mohanasundaram-P.W.6, neighbour of P.W.2 also saw the dead body of the deceased / Shantini.

[iii] P.W.1 along with his brother Thirugnanam-P.W.5 went to the Erode North Police Station and lodged complaint [Ex.P.1]. On receipt of Ex.P.1, the then Sub Inspector of Police-P.W.9, registered a case in Crime No.370 of 2011 under 174 Cr.P.C. Ex.P.6 is the First Information Report. He visited the scene of occurrence on 08.03.2011. He prepared an Observation Mahazar (Ex.R.1) and Rough Sketch (Ex.P.7) in the presence of witness Muthuraman-P.W.7. He seized the Dupatta (M.O.1) and the suicide note (Ex.P.2) from the place of occurrence. The Investigating Officer caused photographs (Ex.P.5) of the body of the deceased, to be taken with the help of Selvam-P.W.8 in four dimensions.

[iv] The Investigating Officer held inquest over the body of the deceased at 6.15 a.m. on 08.03.2011. Ex.P.8 is the Inquest Report. He examined the witnesses and recorded their statements and on the basis of the materials collected by him, altered the case into one under Section 306 IPC and sent a report to Ex.P.10. to the Court. He sent the dead body for post mortem through Thygarajan-P.W.10, Constable attached to the Erode North Police Station.

[v] Dr.K.Tamilselvi-P.W.11, Doctor, attached to Erode Government Hospital, conducted Autopsy on the dead body of the deceased on 08.03.2011 at 9.15 a.m. She found the following injuries:

“Ligature mark seen in the anterior aspect of neck. 10cm below the chin, 10cm below the angle of mandible on the right side and 5cm below the angle of mandible on the left side, and not seen on the lack of neck. Reddish brown in colour. On further dissection, the base is pale, hard and parchment like and the same preserved. Hyoid preserved. No other external injuries seen.”

[vi] Ex.P.11 is the Post Mortem Certificate. P.W.11 opined that the deceased would appear to have died due to hanging. She found ligature mark seen in the anterior aspect of neck. Ex.P.12 is the final opinion.

[vii] Sethupathy-P.W.12, the then Inspector, Erode North Police Station, took up the investigation from P.W.9. and arrested the accused on 08.03.2011 at about 12.30 p.m. in the presence of witnesses and interrogated him. His successor Sivakumar-P.W.13, the Inspector of Police, took up the further investigation and after completion of the investigation, laid the charge sheet for the offence punishable under Section 306 IPC.

3. When examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C. with refer