Abetment of suicide FIR quashed after married man dies by suicide after girlfriend marries another person: Bombay High Court
A first information report (FIR) filed against a lady for abetment of suicide after the accused woman married another person and her boyfriend committed suicide was quashed by the Bombay High Court through a division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Govind Sanap in the case of Monika Jadhav v. State of Maharashtra (CRIMINAL APPLICATION (APL) NO. 686 OF 2021 )
FACTS OF THE CASE:
The applicant-woman was in an extramarital relationship with the deceased boyfriend, who was already married to another lady. She persisted on marrying him, but he refused, forcing her to marry another guy. The boyfriend then killed himself.
JUDGEMENT:
The bench recognized that the applicant chose to leave the extramarital affair after the deceased refused to marry her. The bench stated in the FIR that the applicant’s marriage with another man could not be accepted by the dead and served as the final nail in his mental problems. However, the woman’s involvement in suicide will not be considered, according to the Court.
Referring to the definition of ‘abetment’ under Section 107 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), the bench opined that in the instant case there was no conspiracy or any active or intentional aiding which prompted the man to commit suicide.
The Court stated that in this case, even if all of the charges made against the applicant are considered as true, we do not find any evidence of abetment of suicide, at least against this applicant. After all, the applicant’s only fault was engaging in an affair with a married person like deceased, and her further fault was marrying another man while her affair with deceased, a married man, was ongoing, and that too when he refused her suggestion to perform marriage with her.
JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY REETI SHETTY