The lawful demand for repayment of a debt by a creditor, even if accompanied by phone calls, does not constitute abetment of suicide unless there is specific evidence of harassment or illegal acts that drove the deceased to commit suicide.

O R D E R

1. Leave granted.

2. Heard learned counsel for the parties.

3. This appeal impugns an order of the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad dated 23.12.2024, whereby Crl. Misc. Application No.21648 of 2023 filed by the appellant under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for quashing the First Information Report (“FIR”) bearing FIR No. 11189001230013, registered at P.S. Halvad, District Morbi, and all proceedings in pursuance thereof including the charge sheet, for offences punishable under Sections 306 and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, has been dismissed.

4. The prosecution case in a nutshell is that the deceased committed suicide by jumping underneath a tractor trolley because he felt harassed by persistent demands to pay off the debt taken by him from several persons including the appellant. The case against the appellant is based on a suicide note alleged to have been recovered from the clothes worn by the deceased at the time of committing suicide. Besides, the investigating agency has collected CDR of calls made by the appellant to the deceased in last six months. As per CDR report, the appellant had made 40 calls to the deceased in last six months. Based on above, the investigating agency opined that due to persistent demand to repay loan, the deceased out of desperation and persistent harassment committed suicide and, therefore, the appellant is guilty of an offence of abetment of suicide.

5. The suicide note, alleged to have been written by the deceased, states that he (i.e., the deceased) had borrowed money from 9 persons including the appellant and that they have been threatening him repeatedly for return of the money. The suicide note recites that there is no quarrel in the house and there is no dispute between him and his family members, who are living happily in the house.

6. By relying on the aforesaid suicide note, the FIR in question was lodged. After investigation, a charge-sheet was submitted on 27.02.2023.

7. The charge-sheet contains a brief narration of facts, which is extracted below:

“Brief facts of the case Offence under Sections 306 and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code, in such a way that the complainant’s father Jayantibhai had borrowed lakhs of rupees from the accused persons and in order to repay the principal amount along with the interest, he sold his two agricultural fields, each measuring 7 bighas, his residential house, a plot in the village, and all the gold and silver jewelry belonging to his mother. Despite the same, the creditors repeatedly demanded the money, forced him to pay, and threatened to kill him if he failed to pay the money, which the father of the complainant could not bear and compelled to commit suicide by jumping into the back wheel of the tractor-trolley. Before committing this act, he wrote a note and put it in his pocket, mentioning the names of the creditors, stating that these men repeatedly threatened to kill him every day, etc. Jayantibhai himself wrote this note. After the letter was found, the complainant in this case filed a complaint, and a report was registered. The call details of the victim's mobile number were obtained. Upon reviewing the call details, it was found that the victim's number had been called repeatedly from the mobile phone number of the accused. After questioning accused No. 1, he stated that he had lent two lakh rupees to the victim, Jayantibhai, and in return, had received a cheque from SBI Bank. He had been repeatedly trying to collect this money, both