High Court: Extra marital relationship alone is neither Cruelty nor abetment of Suicide

October 29, 2018:

Extra-marital relationship may not in all circumstances invite conviction under Section 306 IPC.

Is an extra-marital relationship by a man ‘cruelty’ towards his wife? And, is such an affair outside wedlock alone enough to punish the man for ‘abetment’ of his wife’s suicide?

Madras high court has answered in the negative for both these legal questions.

Noting that extra marital relationship of a husband cannot be construed as abetment of wife’s suicide in the absence of proper proof for provocation, Justice S Vaidyanathan acquitted a man who had been found guilty of abetment and sentenced to three-year imprisonment.

Similarly, mental cruelty, which is engraved in the first limb of Section 498A of IPC, has nothing to do with the demand for dowry, the court said. It is associated with mental cruelty that can drive a woman to commit suicide and it depends upon the conduct of the person concerned. Mental cruelty varies from person to person, depending upon the intensity and the degree of endurance.

Justice Vaidyanathan also made it clear that extra marital affair, per se, would not come under the ambit of ‘cruelty’, punishable under Section 498A of IPC.

“Section 306 of IPC refers to abetment of suicide. To constitute an offence under Section 306, the prosecution has to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the deceased committed suicide and the accused abetted it. But, for the alleged extramarital relationship, nothing has been brought out by the prosecution to show that the accused had provoked, incited or induced the wife to commit suicide. As held by SC in Prakash Babu’s case, extra-marital relationship may not in all circumstances invite conviction under Section 306, IPC,” Justice Vaidyanathan said.

Justice Vaidyanathan made the observations on an appeal by Manickam challenging the order of a Mahila court convicting him of abetting his wife's suicide.