JUDGMENT :

The impugned proceedings arise from Case Crime No. 224 of 2019, under Sections 395, 323, 307, 304, 506, 147, 149 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, for short “IPC”, Police Station-Meerapur, District-Muzaffarnagar. This crime was registered in immediate succession to Case Crime No. 223 of 2019, under Sections 306, 506 IPC, lodged at the same police station by a brother of the informant, that is to say, Rahul Kumar Sharma. It is virtually a second chapter, if the prosecution case is accepted as one worth trial, to Case Crime No. 223 of 2019.

2. The proceedings arising out of Case Crime No. 223 of 2019 were challenged before this Court, through an application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, for short “Code”, being Application under Section 482 No. - 737 of 2020, decided by a judgment and order of date.

3. The facts giving rise to the last mentioned crime have been detailed in my judgment and order of date rendered in Application under Section 482 No. 737 of 2020. For felicity of reference, the facts relating to Case Crime No. 223 of 2019, as detailed in Application under Section 482 of the Code last mentioned, may be extracted :

This prosecution commenced on a First Information Report, for short “FIR” lodged by the deceased's brother, Rahul Kumar Sharma, on 28.07.2019, about the suicidal death of his brother on 25th of July, 2019. The FIR nominates the deceased's in laws, numbering seven, including his wife Smt. Menka alias Monty, his mother-in-law Smt. Kusum Lata, his three sisters-in-law, to wit, Indu Sharma, Chhaya Sharma and Romika Sharma, besides his brother-in-law Rajat Sharma. Another person nominated is one Rajendra Chaudhary, said to be an uncle of sorts to the deceased's in-laws. The applicant is not named in the FIR. The substance of the information, read to the police, says that the named in-laws of the deceased were frequently troubling him and he was in distress. Rajendra Chaudhary had repeatedly threatened the deceased to death and demanded money of him. The deceased had shared the last mentioned fact with the informant, but his in-laws would not give up on their wayward conduct and Rajendra Chaudhary and the other in-laws would repeatedly demand money of the deceased. It is reported that distressed over this issue, on 25.07.2019, at 12 O' Clock, the deceased jumped off the bridge built over the Ganga Garage and into the river, committing suicide. It is also said that he had left home, riding the informant's motorcycle, which was found, and a suicide note in the deceased handwriting was found at the informant's Dharm Kanta, wherein he had claimed his wife and in-laws' harassment as the cause driving him to commit suicide. It is said in the closing lines of the FIR that the deceased did commit suicide because of the harassment that his wife and in-laws inflicted on him.

4. Close on heels of the FIR lodged by deceased Mohit Sharma’s brother about a case of abetment to suicide against the former’s in-laws, the other brother of the late Mohit Sharma, Sudhir Kumar Sharma, lodged an FIR, giving rise to this crime, also against Mohit’s in-laws, numbering seven, and two unknown offenders. The applicant, like the other FIR relating to abetment to suicide, is not named as one of the accused. The FIR opens the prosecution narrative, linking it to the crime, when Mohit Sharma’s family had gone to the Ganga Barrage to cremate his mortal remains. It says that on 29.07.2019, when the informant of the present case and other members of the deceased's family were away to the cremation ground, at about half past twelve, apparently in the afternoon, the deceased’s brother-in-law, Rajat Sharma, son of late Brij Bhushan Sharma, mother-in-law Kusum Lata, widow of late Brij Bhushan Sharma, sisters-in-law Indu Sharma, Romila Sharma and Chhaya Sharma, all daughters of late Brij Bhushan Sharma, and Romila’s husband, Amit Sharma, son of Ishwar Swarup, besides Rajendra Singh Chaudhary, son of Hari Singh, together