Legal proceedings alone, without direct instigation or proximity, do not amount to abetment of suicide under Sections 306 and 107 IPC.

ORAL ORDER

Heard Sri V.S.Hegde, learned counsel appearing for petitioners in W.P.No.32981 of 2024 and for respondent No.2 in Crl.P.No.2305 of 2024, , Sri B N Jagadeesha, learned Additional State Public Prosecutor appearing for respondent No.1, in both the petitions and Sri Dilip Kumar I.S., learned counsel appearing for respondent No.2 in W.P.No.32981 of 2024 and for petitioners in Crl.P.No.2305 of 2024.

W.P.NO.32981 OF 2024:

2. This petition is preferred seeking to quash the FIR in Crime No.306 of 2022 and the charge sheet registered in S.C.No.81 of 2023 for the offences punishable under Sections 306 and 149 of the IPC . The 2^nd respondent is the complainant and also the 1^st petitioner in the companion petition.

3. Facts in brief, germane, are as follows:

It is the case of the prosecution that on 10-8-2022 at 11.00 p.m., the brother and mother of the complainant commit suicide. The acts of the law falls upon these petitioners alleging them to have abetted the commission of such suicide. The backdrop of the commission of suicide is the institution of proceedings for offence punishable under Section 498A of the IPC , as the family dispute was subsisting between the parties. The complaint comes to be registered by the 2^nd respondent on 10-08-2022 alleging the offences punishable under Section 306 and 149 of the , which becomes a crime in Crime No. 306 of 2022. The petitioners/accused no. 2 to 6 and the deceased – Dhanuja who is the wife of the deceased Raju are arraigned as accused in the said crime. The police conduct investigation and file a charge sheet and the matter is presently pending before the Court of Sessions in SC No. 81 of 2023. Filing of the charge sheet is what has driven the petitioners to this Court in the subject petition. This forms the fulcrum of the subject petition.

CRL.P.NO.2305 OF 2024:

4. This petition is by accused No.1 who is the complainant in the companion petition and accused No.2 who is her husband, calling in question registration of a crime by the mother of the deceased Dhanuja, in Crime No.180 of 2022, registered pursuant to registration of a complaint on 20-08-2022, for the offences punishable under Sections 306 , 498A, 504 and 34 of the IPC . The daughter of the complainant is said to have committed suicide due to the alleged verbal abuse of the petitioner No.1, stating that the deceased – Dhanuja was the reason for the death of her brother and mother. The police conduct investigation and file a charge sheet. The concerned court takes cognizance of the offences under , 498A and 504 the and the matter is committed to the Court of Sessions wherein a case in S.C.No.5067 of 2023 is registered. It is this order of taking cognizance and initiation of further proceedings before the Court of Sessions which has driven the petitioners to this Court in the subject petition. This forms the fulcrum of the subject petition.

5. Therefore, there are three deaths in these two cases i.e., the mother and brother, of the complainant in W.P.No.32981 of 2024 and the daughter, of the complainant in Crl.P.No.2305 of 2024, who is the wife of the deceased Raju in the companion petition.

6. The issue is who has abetted whom in commission of suicide, for this Court to permit the trial if any to be conducted. Since the entire issue has now sprung from the registration of the complaint in these respective cases, I deem it appropriate to notice the complaints that led to the registration of the respective crimes as afore-quoted in both these cases.

W.P.No.32981 of 2024

The complaints then become the ground for investigation. The investigation leads to filing of the charge sheet in both these cases. The summary of the charge sheet filed in Crime No.306 of 2022 in W.P.No.329