Criminal Lawyer: Section 306 IPC is not applicable in case of suicide by hypersensitive person; SC.

Supreme Court of India 

Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre

The SC {Uday Singh and others versus State of Haryana} holds that if a person who commits suicide had been hypersensitive, and the action of the accused is otherwise not ordinarily expected to induce a similarly circumstanced person to commit suicide, it may not be safe to hold the accused guilty of abetment of suicide.

It was further held that if the accused by his acts and  by his continuous course of conduct creates a situation which leads the deceased perceiving no other option except to commit suicide, the case may fall within the four corners of Section 306 IPC.

It was also held that if the acts and deeds are only of such nature where the accused intended nothing more than harrassment or snap show of anger, a particular case may fall short of the offence of abetment of suicide.

Finally, in the present case, it was held as the deceased was a 10th dropout and was engaged for marriage; but six months before her marriage her engagement had broken. The accused no. 1 continuously addressed or called the deceased girl as his 'wife' and other accused join him. The accused no. 1 was uncle of the deceased, and the accused and complainant side were also involved in several litigations.

It was further held that the present case indeed represents a sordid state of affairs in relation to
the young girl in the rural setting, whose honour and self-esteem got brutally violated by none other but her own relatives, who found her to be the soft-target to settle their scores with her parents. It was also held as the facts of this case lead only to the conclusion that the accused persons had intentionally, with their incessant acts and utterances, goaded the victim girl to commit suicide. She indeed committed suicide within few hours of her last and unbearable encounter with the accused. Therefore, the conviction of accused no. 1 & 3 was upheld under Sec 306 IPC.