“Human mind is a puzzle, there can be innumerable reasons for suicide”: Supreme Court

The bench said that the prosecution has failed to prove the charge of abetment of suicide.

New Delhi:

The human mind is an enigma and there can be innumerable reasons for a man or woman to die by suicide, the Supreme Court has said while acquitting a man of charges of abetting the suicide of his landlady 24 years ago.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Ujjal Bhuyan said it may not always be the case that someone has to be instigated to commit suicide and the circumstances surrounding the person are relevant.

“The human mind is an enigma. It is almost impossible to unravel the mystery of the human mind. There can be innumerable reasons for a man or woman to commit or attempt suicide: it could be a case of failure to achieve academic excellence, college or oppressive environment in the hostel, especially for students belonging to marginalized sections, unemployment, financial difficulties, disappointment in love or marriage, acute or chronic illnesses, depression, etc.,” the bench said.

In this case, a former tenant man proposed to his landlady who was returning after dropping her sister’s children at school.

The man threatened her that if she did not agree to marry him, he would destroy her sisters’ families, keep their honor and kill them.

After reaching home, the woman informed her sisters about the incident over phone. After this he consumed poison at home. He was taken to hospital where he died on 6 July 2000.

The top court said that there was no evidence on the basis of which it could hold the appellant guilty of abetment of suicide.

“Although the death of a young woman is certainly very tragic, it cannot be said with any degree of certainty that suicide has been proved; constituting the offense under section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC. The other essential ingredient, i.e., that there may not be abetment, will also be said to have been proved,” the bench said.

The court said that on a combined reading of the entire material on record, it is of the opinion that the prosecution has failed to prove the charge of abetment of suicide against the appellant.

The bench said, “The settled legal position, the evidence on record and the glaring lapses of the prosecution, as stated above, leave no room for doubt. We are, therefore, of the clear view that the conviction of the appellant is completely unsustainable.” Is.”

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