SC: Mere harassment not enough to prove abetment

Holding that mere harassment was not sufficient to find an accused guilty of abetting suicide, the Supreme Court has discharged a man and his two family members. His wife had died by suicide allegedly after being harassed by them for dowry.

“For a conviction under Section 306 of the IPC, it is a well-established legal principle that the presence of clear mens rea — the intention to abet the act — is essential. Mere harassment by itself is not sufficient to find an accused guilty of abetting suicide,” a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Punjab Varale said, discharging the trio from the charges of abetment to suicide.

“There must be concrete proof of either direct or indirect acts of incitement that led to the suicide. Mere allegations of harassment are insufficient to establish guilt. For a conviction, there must be evidence of a positive act by the accused, closely linked to the time of the incident that compelled or drove the victim to end her life,” the top court said in its verdict. The verdict comes at a time when the wife and in-laws of Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash have been booked for allegedly abetting his suicide.