Varasala Satyanarayana vs The State Of Andhra Pradesh
2022 Latest Caselaw 6914 AP

     THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI

           CRIMINAL PETITION NO.6850 OF 2022

ORDER:-

       This Criminal Petition is filed under Sections 437 & 439 of

Criminal Procedure Code („Cr.P.C.‟ in short), seeking regular

bail, by the petitioner/ A1 in Crime No.159 of 2022 of

Amalapuram Rural Police Station, Konaseema District, registered

for the offences punishable under Section 306, 384 r/w 511,

506, 509 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short „IPC‟)

and    Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s), 3(2)(v), 3(2)(va) of the

Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of

Atrocities) Act, 1989.

2.     The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that the deceased

who is the wife of the defacto complainant used to work as

Panchayat Secretary. The accused gave a complaint against the

deceased to the District Collector regarding 3 days delay in

conducting General Body meeting. For that reason, she received

a show cause notice. It is further alleged that the accused

harassed the deceased, abused her in caste name, demanded

her money to withdraw their complaint and also threatened with

dire consequences. Due to which the deceased committed
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suicide by hanging herself and died. Hence, the present

complaint.

3.    Learned Special Assistant Public Prosecutor submitted that

notice under Section 15 A (3)(5) of Scheduled Castes and

Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was served

on the defacto complainant and copy of the same is placed on

record.

4.    Heard Sri Jayaprakash Madasu, learned counsel for the

petitioner and learned Special Assistant Public Prosecutor for the

respondent-State.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner, in elaboration,

contended that, on a plain reading of the complaint no

ingredients attracting Section 306 of IPC against the petitioner

are found. It is further contended that, the petitioner filed

Crl.M.P.No.380 of 2022 before the learned Sessions Judge,

seeking grant of bail and the same was dismissed by the learned

Sessions Judge on the ground that the investigation is in

progress and the deceased committed suicide at the abetment

or instigation of the arrested and other accused. It is further

contended that, there are no allegations of abetment or

instigation made against the petitioner for which the deceased

committed suicide. It is also contended that, the petitioner is

languishing in jail for the last 58 days. Hence, prays this Court

to consider this application.

6. On the other hand learned Special Assistant Public

Prosecutor submits that, FIR is not an encyclopedia and it need

not contain all the details and investigation is in progress. He

further submits that though the substantial investigation is

completed, if the petitioner is granted bail, he may not co-

operate with the investigation. Hence, prayed for dismissal of

the petition.

7. A perusal of record, prima facie shows that the allegations

made against the petitioners do not attract the offence

punishable under Section 306 IPC.

8. Section 306 IPC reads as under:

"306. Abetment of suicide - if any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine."

9. The Hon‟ble Apex Court in M. Mohan v. State of

Tamilnadu1 while dealing with ingredients of Section 306 of IPC

held as under:

"Before holding an accused guilty of an offence under Section 306 of IPC, the court must scrupulously examine the facts and circumstances of the case and also assess the evidence adduced before it in order to find out whether the cruelty and harassment meted out to the victim had left the victim with no other alternative, but to commit suicide. It is also to be borne in mind that in cases of alleged abetment of suicide, there must be proof of direct or indirect acts of incitement to the commission of suicide. Merely on the allegation of harassment without there being any positive action proximate to the time of occurrence on the part of the accused which led or compelled the person to commit suicide, conviction in terms of Section 306 of IPC is not sustainable".

10. Taking the submissions of the learned counsel for the

petitioners and the material available on record into

consideration and since the petitioner is languishing in jail for

the last 58 days and as substantial investigation is completed

and prima facie the ingredients of Section 306 IPC are not

found at this stage and by taking into consideration the

judgment referred supra, this Court is inclined to grant bail to

(2011) 3 SCC 626

the petitioner, however by duly taking the apprehensions of the

learned Special Assistant Public Prosecutor into consideration, on

the following conditions:

(i) The petitioner shall be released on bail on his executing

self bond for Rs.25,000/- (Rupees twenty five thousand only)

with two sureties for a like sum each to the satisfaction of the

learned II Additional District and Sessions Judge, Amalapuram;

(ii) The petitioner shall appear before the Station House

Officer, Amalapuram Rural Police Station, Konaseema District,

once in a week i.e. on every Sunday between 10.00 a.m. and

12.00 noon, till filing of the charge sheet; and

(iii) The petitioner shall not directly or indirectly contact the de

facto complainant or his family members and witnesses under

any circumstances in this regard and any such attempt shall be

construed as an attempt of influencing the witnesses and shall

not tamper the evidence; and

(iv) The petitioner shall not make any attempt to tamper with

the prosecution evidence. He shall make himself available to the

investigating officer whenever required by them to facilitate

proper investigation in this case.

Further, the petitioner shall scrupulously comply with the

above conditions and in case of infraction of the same, the

prosecution is at liberty to move appropriate application for

cancellation of bail.

It is made clear that this order does not, in any manner,

limit or restrict the rights of the Police or the investigating

agency from further investigation as per law and the finding in

this order be construed as expression of opinion only for the

limited purpose of considering bail in the above Criminal Petition

and shall not have any bearing in any other proceedings.

Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed.

Miscellaneous applications, pending if any, shall stand

closed.

___________________________ JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI

Date : 13.09.2022 AG

THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI

CRIMINAL PETITION NO.6850 OF 2022

Date : 13.09.2022

AG