Paragraph numbers below are the court’s original numbering, recovered from the source text.
10. The submission of learned counsel for the accused-appellant is that there is no iota of evidence on record to prove abetment of suicide or cheating on part of the accused-appellant and that the High Court is not justified in reversing the decision of acquittal passed by the trial court.
11. The FIR alleges that the daughter of the complainant, upon completion of BA, took admission for MA at Gadhinglaj. She i.e. the mother of the deceased came to know that her daughter was in love with a Muslim boynamed Kamruddin Dastagir Sanadi of the village i.e. the accused-appellant. She complained about their affair with the reputed people of the Muslim community of the village and a meeting of the Muslim community was called wherein the accused-appellant and her deceased daughter were present and both of them agreed to marry. The accused-appellant cheated her daughter by giving false assurance of marriage and by entering into physical relationship with her, then refusing to marry, which compelled her to consume poison, leading to her death.
12. The deceased left behind two dying declarations which are on record.Exh.P17 is the dying declaration recorded by PSI, Kakati (PW-15) whereas Exh.P10 is another dying declaration recorded later by the Taluka Executive Magistrate, Belgaum (PW-11) in the presence of the doctor (PW-12) in the hospital between 04:50 pm to 05:20 pm on 19.08.2007. 1274
13. The dying declaration of the deceased duly recorded by PSI, Kakati states that the deceased was a 21 year old girl studying in MA 1st year. She was in love with the accused-appellant who had left the village 4 months back and had started residing at Kakati, Belgaum. Allegedly about 8 days before the incident, he had called on her phone and asked her to come to Kakati. She reached Kakati in the evening of 18.08.2007 and met him at Avanti Hotel. She asked him to marry her but he refused to marry and left. She, thereafter, went to the bus stop and consumed poison which she had brought with her from Gadhinglaj.
14. The dying declaration recorded later by Taluka Executive Magistrate (PW-11), Belgaum, on 19.08.2007 states that she was aged about 21 years and was residing with her mother, elder sister and younger brother and was studying in MA 1st year. She was having an affair with the accused-appellant since last 8 years. Their affair came to the knowledge of the elder persons of both the families and all of them decided to perform the marriage. The accused-appellant agreed to marry her in front of the elders of the village. He left the village about 4 months ago and when she made inquiries about him, she came to know that he was residing at Kakati. She went to Kakati and searched him and made a phone call. Then she met him at Avanti Hotel and asked him to marry her but he refused. Thereafter, she consumed poison which she had brought in a bottle from Gadhinglaj. She was shifted to the hospital for treatment by a relative of the accused-appellant named Badshaha Nazir Pathan (PW-5) of Kakati.
15. The aforesaid statement was made in Marathi and a translated copy was put on record. The doctor had certified that the patient was fully conscious and fit to give statement. The Executive Magistrate, Belgaum, has recorded that the deceased had a frustrated mentality.
16. The dying declaration of the deceased reveals that there is no allegation of any physical relationship between the accused-appellant and the deceased or that the accused-appellant had ever entered into any physical relationship or had sexual intercourse with the deceased under the pretext of marriage. The dying declaration indicates that it was the deceased who was in love with the accused-appellant and wanted to marry him. When the accused-appellant had left the village, it was the deceased who made search about him and came [2024] 11 S.C.R. Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi v. State of Karnataka Through SHO Kakati Police to know that he was residing in Kakati. She herself traced him out at Kakati and went after him. She called him and when they met, he refused to marry her and thus, as her sentiments were hurt, she consumed poison leading to her death.
17. There is no allegation by her that the accused-appellant had instigated her to consume poison or to commit suicide. No other evidence in this regard has been adduced. Even the mother of the deceased (PW-1) in her statement revealed that it was the deceased who was in love with the accused-appellant and that she wanted her mother to convince him to marry her. The said witness though may have stated that the deceased entered into physical relationship with her daughter but the same otherwise does not stand proved or corroborated, not even by the dying declarations. As regards the promise to marry alleged to have been made by the accused-appellant, it is said that the same was made before the village elders in context with which Najaruddin Mohammad Malik (PW-3) and Kashim Babalal Sankeshwar (PW-4) were examined. Both these witnesses have stated that they had provided a written document regarding the panchayath proceedings to the deceased and her mother but no such document was produced by PW-1 to prove that the accused-appellant had actually ever promised or agreed to marry her daughter. There is allegation but no evidence to prove that the accused-appellant was also in love with the deceased or that he was in touch with her in any manner. The allegation that both of them were talking to each other on phone is without any substance as no evidence was produced in the form of call records of either of them to establish that the accused-appellant used to call the deceased and talk to her and to establish that he was also in love with her. There is no evidence to even establish that the accused-appellant entered into any physical relationship with the deceased on the pretext of marrying her. So, the evidence fails to prove any physical relationship between the two, promise to marry on the part of the accused-appellant and that he was instrumental in instigating the deceased to consume poison or to commit suicide.
18. Section 306 IPC defines abetment of suicide which reads as under: “306. If any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.” 1276
19. It provides for the punishment for abetting the commission of suicide. Therefore, ‘abetment’ of suicide is an essential element for punishing a person for an offence under Section 306 IPC.
20. Abetment has been defined under Section 107 IPC and it reads as under: “107. Abetment of a thing.- A person abets the doing of a thing,who- First.- Instigates any person to do that thing; or Secondly.- Engages with one or more other person or persons in any conspiracy for the doing of that thing, if an act or illegal omission takes place in pursuance of that conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing; or Thirdly.- Intentionally aids, by any act or illegal omission, the doing of that thing.”
21. The very first clause of the aforesaid provision lays down that a person, who abets the doing of a thing, is a person who instigates any person to do that thing. Therefore, ‘instigation’ to do a particular thing is necessary for charging a person with abetment. 22. ‘Instigation’ is to provoke, incite or encourage a person to do an act. 23. This Court has repeatedly observed that abetment involves a mental process of instigating a person or intentionally aiding a person in doing of a particular thing and without the positive act on part of the accused there would be no instigation. It has also been observed that to convict a person for abetment of suicide under Section 306 IPC, there has to be a clear mens rea on the part of the accused to abet such a crime and it requires an active act or a direct act leading to the commission of suicide. 24. In Ramesh Kumar vs. State of Chhattisgarh,2 a three Judges Bench of this Court dealt with a case of suicide by the wife, where the husband in anger uttered-‘You are free to do whatever you wish and go wherever you like’.Thereafter, the wife committed suicide. The Court, after examining the meaning of instigation which is an essential element for abetment of suicide, observed that such [2001] Supp. 4 SCR 247 : (2001) 9 SCC 618 [2024] 11 S.C.R. Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi v. State of Karnataka Through SHO Kakati Police words, uttered out of emotion, do not constitute mens rea and do not amount to intentionally inciting the other party to actually do an act which may result in the commission of self-killing/suicide. 25. Even in cases where the victim commits suicide, which may be as a result of cruelty meted out to her, the Courts have always held that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and that the commission of such an offence largely depends upon the mental state of the victim. Surely, until and unless some guilty intention on the part of the accused is established,it is ordinarily not possible to convict him for an offence under Section 306 IPC. 26. The salient features constituting an offence under Section 306 IPC were elucidated by this Court in M.Mohan vs. State represented by the Deputy Superintendent of Police3 and it was observed as under: “43. This Court in Chitresh Kumar Chopra v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi) [(2009) 16 SCC 605: (2010) 3 SCC (Cri) 367] had an occasion to deal with this aspect of abetment. The Court dealt with the dictionary meaning of the word “instigation” and “goading”. The Court opined that there should be intention to provoke, incite or encourage the doing of an act by the latter. Each person’s suicidability pattern is different from the others. Each person has his own idea of self-esteem and self-respect. Therefore, it is impossible to lay down any straitjacket formula in dealing with such cases. Each case has to be decided on the basis of its own facts and circumstances. 44. Abetment involves a mental process of instigating a person or intentionally aiding a person in doing of a thing. Without a positive act on the part of the accused to instigate or aid in committing suicide, conviction cannot be sustained. 45. The intention of the legislature and the ratio of the cases decided by this Court are clear that in order to convict a person under Section 306 IPC there has to be a clear mens rea to commit the offence. It also requires [2011] 3 SCR 437 : (2011) 3 SCC 626 1278 an active act or direct act which led the disease to commit suicide seeing no option and this act must have been intended to push the disease in two such a position that he/she committed suicide.” 27. The same aspects have been reiterated by this Court in Amalendu Pal alias Jhantu vs. State of West Bengal 4 and have been again repeated in Prabhu vs. State represented by Inspector of Police & Anr.5 28. In Prabhu (supra) the Court further observed that broken relationships and heart breaks are part of everyday life and that breaking-up of the relationship would not constitute any instigation or abetment of suicide inasmuch as in order to constitute ‘Instigation’ it must be shown that the accused had by his acts and omissions or by continued course of conduct created such circumstances that the deceased was left with no other option except to commit suicide. 29. There is no direct evidence adduced by the prosecution to prove that the accused-appellant has in any way instigated or provoked the deceased to commit suicide. The accused-appellant on asking of the deceased had simply refused to marry her which is not a positive act on his part with any intention to abet the crime of suicide. 30. If we examine the instant case on the touch stone of the above principles of law,we find that the accused-appellant had simply refused to marry the deceased and thus, even assuming there was love between the parties, it is only a case of broken relationship which by itself would not amount to abetment to suicide. The accused- appellant had not provoked the deceased in any manner to kill herself; rather the deceased herself carried poison in a bottle from her village while going to Kakati, Karnataka with a predetermined mind to positively get an affirmation from the accused-appellant to marry her, failing which she would commit suicide. Therefore, in such a situation simply because the accused-appellant refused to marry her, would not be a case of instigating, inciting or provoking the deceased to commit suicide. [2009] 15 SCR 836 : (2010) 1 SCC 707 2024 SCC Online SC 137 [2024] 11 S.C.R. Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi v. State of Karnataka Through SHO Kakati Police 31. Even assuming, though there is no evidence that the accused- appellant promised to marry the deceased, that there was such a promise, it is again a simple case of a broken relationship for which there is a different cause of action, but not prosecution or conviction for an offence under Section 306, specially in the facts and circumstances of the case where no guilty intention or mens rea on the part of the accused-appellant had been established. 32. In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the opinion that the judgment and order of the High Court dated 15.12.2011 cannot be sustained in law and is hereby set aside and the accused-appellant stands acquitted as was done by the trial court. 33. The appeal is allowed with no order as to cost. Result of the case: Appeal allowed. †Headnotes prepared by: Divya Pandey