March 22, 2019

"Alleged act of mis-behaviour and taking extra work after the office hours from the deceased cannot be equated into abetting the deceased to commit suicide," bench observed.

The Appeal was preferred before the Bench of Justice S.K. Awasthi, under Section 14-A(1) of the SC/ST (PA) Act, 1989, read with Section 397 of CrPC against order passed by Special Judge where charges against appellant were framed for commission of offence under Section 306 read with Section 34 of IPC,1860 & Section 3(2)(v) of the Act.

Facts of this case were such that appellant was alleged for abetting the suicide of deceased, who in his dying declaration stated appellant to have harassed him & made him work overtime.

Ajay Bagadiya, counsel on behalf of appellant contended that so as to allege for offence of abetment of suicide the instigation by accused should've some proximate link with the factum of suicide. Also, no other employee or the deceased had ever complaint against appellant & no evidence showing excessive work given to deceased was shown.

The High Court was of the view that allegation of misbehavior & giving of excessive work after the office hours couldn't be equated into abetting the deceased to commit suicide. Due to the fact that only one person was accused in this case charge framed with the aid of Section 34 wasn't required.

Further, the Court observed that if the behavior of higher officials was unbearable then the employee had other options rather than to commit suicide.

The High Court observed that, "If any higher officer compels his sub-ordinate to do extra work which is unbearable, then he has other options and it cannot be said that he had no other option except to commit suicide. Under these circumstances, the appellant cannot be held responsible for abetting the deceased to commit suicide."

Therefore, the appellant cannot be held liable for abetment to suicide and the impugned order was set aside.

Read Judgement @LatestLaws.com:

Satendra Jha v. State of M.P.- MP High Court (Downloadable PDF)

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