The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement of an active role and instigation in abetment to suicide, as well as the need to consider the mental state and circumstances of the deceased.

JUDGMENT :

Since common question of law and facts are involved in both these petitions, they are taken up together and decided by this common judgment.

2. Challenge in both these petitions is made to the Charge sheet dated 05.12.2020 and summoning order dated 11.12.2020, passed in Criminal Case No. 834 of 2020, State Vs. Jyotsna Sharma and others, under Sections 306 and 120 B IPC by the court of Judicial Magistrate 2nd, Haridwar, District Haridwar (for short, “the case”) and the entire proceedings of the case.

3. The informant (respondent no.2 herein) filed an FIR on 05.10.2020 under Section 306, 34 IPC against both the petitioners and others. According to it, in the intervening night of 5/6.10.2020 at 12:30, the informant spotted that his son Vivek Sharma had committed suicide. The police was informed. The dead body was taken down from the ceiling fan. A suicide note was recovered from the pocket of the deceased. In the suicide note, the deceased had held the petitioners and others responsible for his death. The petitioner Bhupesh Chauhan would threaten the deceased to life. The deceased was mentally harassed and he was under depression. It is this FIR, in which, after investigation, charge sheet has been submitted against the petitioners under Sections 306 and 120B IPC. In this matter, on 11.12.2020 cognizance has been taken against the petitioners. It is impugned herein.

4. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.

5. The deceased was husband of the petitioner Jyotsna Sharma. Jyotsna Sharma and her husband had litigation between them. The petitioner Jyotsna Sharma had filed a suit of divorce on 23.06.2020. She had also filed an application under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, “the Code”) on 05.08.2020. The deceased committed suicide in the month of October, 2020. Forensic report had confirmed that the suicide note was in the handwriting of the deceased. The suicide note is enclosed with the petition. The suicide note reads as hereunder:-

“I Vivek Sharma, son of Raja Ram Sharma, Dutt Kuteer, Kankhal Haridwar held Bhupesh Chauhan responsible for my death 9897338838 because of my dispute with my wife Jyotsna Sharma Bhupesh Chauhan is threatening me to life because I am not divorcing my wife Jyotsana Sharma therefore he is pressurising me that I should divorce her or else he would get me killed I had given a report to SSP. It was inquired from Kankhal Haridwar. It was inquired on 14.02.2020 by lau bhau Anand Mehra. Thereafter Bhupesh Chauhan has been continuously threatening me. The cause of my death is Bhupesh Chauhan.

Vivek Sharma”

6. In the suicide note, reference to an application given by the deceased to SSP has been made. It is also recorded in the suicide note that inquiry dated 14.02.2020 was done in the matter.

7. The informant had filed the complaint made by the deceased to SSP, Haridwar as Annexure 2 with the counter affidavit filed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 1649 of 2021. It is quite in detail. A reading of it reveals that in this complaint of the deceased, the petitioner Bhupesh Chauhan has been addressed as boy friend of the petitioner Jyotsna Sharma. According to this report of the deceased, the petitioner Jyotsna Sharma used to spend most of her time with the petitioner Bhupesh Chauhan; Jyotsna Sharma was under the influence of the petitioner Bhupesh Chauhan; Jyotsna Sharma had been falsely complaining against the deceased under the pressure of the petitioner Bhupesh Chauhan.

8. Learned counsel for the petitioner Jyotsna Sharma would submit that no prima facie case is made out against the petitioner; she had matrimonial discord with the deceased; she had filed a suit for divorce and maintenance application against the deceased; the deceased had also filed a suit for restitution of conjugal rights, but it is argued that merely, because the petitioner Jyotsna