Single-judge Justice Rai Chattopadhyay therefore, acquitted a man and his mother, who had been convicted by the trial court for abetting the suicide (Section 306 of Indian Penal Code) of the wife and for cruelty (Section 498A of Indian Penal Code).
“So far as the offence under section 498A IPC is concerned, the allegations of cruelty against the appellants should be of the gravity to indicate that the same has driven the victim to commit suicide. In this case, there is no such compulsive material before the Court to find guilt of the accused persons,” the bench noted.
It added that mere matrimonial discord cannot be a ground to convict the husband for abetting the suicide.
“Matrimonial discord or disharmony for what so ever reason cannot and should not casually be weighed with such gravity to have driven a person to commit suicide unless there is some seriously implicating materials available against the accused persons. Their specific intention, overt act and direct incitement would have been the necessary ingredients for the prosecution to bring home the charges against the accused persons, which in this trial the prosecution is found to have failed to bring on record,” the bench held.
Source: Barandbench
