Bhupendra Potai @ Pappu vs The State Of Chhattisgarh
2021 Latest Caselaw 1012 Chatt

                                                               NAFR

          HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR

                         CRR No. 367 of 2014

               Judgment reserved on 26.03.2021

               Judgment delivered on 09.07.2021

 Bhupendra Potai @ Pappu, aged about 20 years, S/o. Madan Singh
Potai, R/o. Village Alvar Khurd, Thana Bhanupratappur, District U.B.
Kanker.                                          ---- Applicant

                                  Versus

State of Chhattisgarh through D.J. U.B. Kanker.

                                                    ---- Respondent

     For Applicant           -      Shri Parag Kotecha, Advocate
     For Respondent          -      Shri Sameer Sharma, Dy. GA


          Hon'ble (Smt.) Justice Vimla Singh Kapoor

                              CAV Order

The instant Criminal Revision under Section 397 read with

401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been preferred by the

applicant against the charge framed by the Additional Sessions

Judge (FTC) Uttar Bastar, Kanker against him on 26.02.2014 under

Section 306 IPC.

2. It is alleged that in the intervening night of

22.12.2013/23.12.2013 deceased Harita Uikey committed suicide

by hanging to a tamarind tree with the help of her own scarf. At the

relevant time, she was aged about 16 years and studying in class

X. The deceased and the applicant hailed from the same village. As

the prosecution story unfurls, the applicant had a love affair with

the deceased and to express the same he had also written a love

letter to her which has been seized by the police on being produced by her father Ram Bharos Uikey. Not only this, on

22.12.2013 at about 7-8 PM the applicant came to her house and

dragged her out for letting her know as to what he had written for

her on the wall. After that, the deceased did not get back alive,

and in the next morning her family members came to know

through the brother of the applicant that Harita Uikey had ended

her life by hanging to a tamarind tree with the help of scarf.

2. On the merg intimation given by the father of the deceased,

FIR came to be registered against the applicant for an offence

under Section 306 IPC. Overall investigation led to submission of

the Final Report under the same Section followed by framing of

Charge dated 26.02.2014, which is sought to be quashed in this

revision.

3. Counsel for the applicant submits that the allegations made

against the applicant, even if seen in the light of the material

collected by the prosecution, do not give rise to an offence

punishable under Section 306 IPC as the ingredients of abetment

contained in Section 107 IPC are not at all attracted to this case. In

support of his submissions, counsel for the applicant relied upon

the decision of the Supreme Court in the matter of State of

Kerala and others v. S. Unnikrishnan Nair and others

rendered on 13.08.2015 in Criminal Appeal No. 2086/2014,

decisions of this Court in the matter of Raj Shekhar Paliwal and

another v. State of CG and another reported in 2021 (1) CGLJ

145 and the one in the matter of Arvind and others v. State of CG rendered on 05.02.2014 in Criminal Revision No.

301/2013.

4. On the other hand, counsel for the respondent/State supports

the charge framed by the Additional Sessions Judge (FTC) on

26.02.2014 and submits that there is ample material collected by

the prosecution to show that on account of the act of the applicant

where he was un-necessarily exhibiting his inclination towards her;

wrote a love letter and also scribbled the offending words like Laila

Majnu on the wall of her uncle, she felt humiliated, lost her

composure and eventually ended her life by hanging to a tree. In

the midst of this material, according to the State counsel, the

charge framed against the applicant under Section 306 IPC is

correct and cannot be quashed by this Court.

5. Having heard counsel for the parties and gone through the

material collected by the prosecution what prima facie appears to

this Court is that it was the one sided inclination of the applicant

towards the deceased. There does not appear to be any responsive

or reciprocal gesture from the deceased towards the applicant.

Even the so-called love letter allegedly written by the applicant

which was seized by the police on being produced by her father

Ram Bharose goes to show that earlier the deceased had got angry

and spurned the love offer of the applicant. The statement of the

father of the deceased also indicates towards another instance

where the applicant had caught hold of her hand while she was

coming from the school. At that time, the father of the deceased

was working in his field and that on seeing him, the applicant moved ahead. Similarly, the 161 statement of Vidya Uikey - the

sister of the deceased, goes to show that on 22.12.2013 at about

7-8 PM when the deceased was studying in her house, the

applicant came there and asked her to accompany him outside for

being shown the words written for her on the wall. Her statement

also shows that when the deceased did not listen to the applicant,

he dragged her out and took to the house of the uncle of the

deceased on whose wall the words "Laila Majnu" were scribbled by

him. Furthermore, the statements of almost all the witnesses go to

show that the applicant had written the words "Laila Majnu" on the

wall, and thereafter in the night she decided to say good-bye to the

worldly existence, probably for the reason that the act of the

applicant made her feel humiliated in the society and thus fall in

the grip of unbearable mental tension. Having thus seen the

material collected by the prosecution at its face value in the light

of various decisions of the Apex Court, one being in the matter of

Chitresh Kumar Chopra v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi)

reported in AIR 2010 SC 1446, there is a strong ground for

presuming that the accused/applicant has committed an offence

punishable under Section 306 IPC by persistently putting the

deceased in an embarrassing situation and resultant humiliation by

shooting love letter, catching hold of her hand, entering her house

and dragging her out to show the words written for her on the wall

- all using as tools in order to exhibit his one sided inclination

towards her, and thus abetted her to finish her worldly existence.

Applicant thus by doing these things persistently to the humiliation

of the deceased created such a scene before her that she chose the way to depart, which prima facie can be construed as

abetment to commit suicide. Sorry to say, the judicial

pronouncements relied upon by the applicant, being on altogether

different facts, are of no help to him, and therefore kept aside.

6. The charge under assail in this revision prima facie being not

incorrect makes the applicant face trial. No interference with the

same is called for, and accordingly the revision is dismissed.

7. There is no observation on merit aspect of the case by this

Court while dealing with this revision, and the trial Court would be

duty-bound to proceed with the trial without being influenced by

this order. Since the order framing charge was stayed way back on

04.02.2015, the trial is expected to be concluded as early as

possible but not later than six months from today.

8. Revision dismissed.

Sd/-

(Vimla Singh Kapoor) Judge Jyotishi