S. Rekhaprasad v. State OF A. P. , rep. , by Public Prosecutor
2002-04-15
C.Y.SOMAYAJULU
body2002
DigiLaw.ai
C. Y. SOMAYAJULU, J. ( 1 ) IN connection with the death of one Mrs. Sangita Sarma (deceased), on the report given by her mother, the Station House Officer, Market Police Station, Secunderabad registered a case in Crime No. 173 of 2000 under Section 306 I. P. C. and took up investigation and filed a charge sheet against the petitioner and others for the said offence alleging that the petitioner and others have abated the suicide of the deceased and the same was registered as P. R. C. No. 2 of 2002 by the learned IX Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad. This petition is filed to quash the proceedings in the said P. R. C. , against the petitioner, who is shown as A2. ( 2 ) THE contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that even if the averments made in the complaint and the suicide note said to have been left by the deceased prior to her death and the entries in the Red diary referred to in the suicide note left behind by the deceased are taken to be true in their entirety, no offence under Section 306 I. P. C. can be said to have been made out against the petitioner because none of them establish that the petitioner had abated the suicide of the deceased. He placed strong reliance on RAMESH KUMAR vs. STATE OF CHATTISGARH1 in support of his contention. ( 3 ) THE averments, in brief, in the charge sheet filed under Section 306 I. P. C. are that the deceased, a divorcee, after Post Graduation in Law, took up legal profession and became the junior of A1, who later solicited sexual relationship with him, with a promise that he would make her an Assistant Government Pleader and that on some occasions he used to demand money also from her and that on 24-12-1999 A3 threatened and pressurijed the deceased over telephone to accept the proposal of A1 and so the deceased started set up independent practice from January, 2000, and sent a complaint to the Resource Centre for Women, about the harassment of women Advocates by male Advocates marking a copy thereof to the Bar Council and had on 27-12-1999 addressed a letter to the Chairman, Bar Council of India and intended to shift her practice to Bangalore where her brother is residing.
On 14-6-2000, feeling unwell the deceased skipped supper, and went to bed at about 10 P. M. , and woke up her mother at about midnight and informed her that she consumed Baygon Spray in an attempt to commit suicide, being unable to bear the harassment of the petitioner and A1 and A3, and as she received a telephone call threatening to kidnap her if she were not to accept the proposal of A1. The suicide note left behind by the deceased stated that the names of the persons that were harassing her are mentioned in the Red Diary. ( 4 ) THE entry in the diary of the deceased shows that the petitioner asked her (deceased) whether she requires money and nothing else. Even assuming that what is mentioned in the diary is true, petitioner enquiring from the deceased as to whether she requires money, cannot be construed to mean that the petitioner abated the suicide of the deceased, because the deceased did not any where state that the petitioner promised to supply the money for purchase of Baygon Spray consumed by her for committing suicide. ( 5 ) IN RAMESH KUMAR case (1 supra) the Supreme Court held that merely because the accused stated to the deceased that she is free to go wherever she likes and whatever she wanted to do or wish, it does not and cannot mean that accused abated commission of the suicide by the deceased. In V. SANKARAIAH vs. STATE OF A. P. 2 (Criminal Petition No. 1495 of 2001 dated 11-2-2002), after referring to the decisions of various High Courts, I have held that if the averments in the charge sheet or material on record does not show that the accused had either induced or aided the suicide of the deceased, he cannot be charge sheeted for an offence under Section 306 I. P. C. ( 6 ) THE averments in the complaint, or the material on record in this case, does not disclose any inducement by the petitioner to the deceased to commit suicide, nor does it show that the petitioner aided the suicide of the deceased by purchasing the Baygon Spray consumed by her or otherwise.
Therefore, it cannot be said that there is prima facie material against the petitioner to show that she abated the suicide of the deceased and so the prosecution against the petitioner for offence under Section 306 I. P. C. is liable to be quashed. ( 7 ) FOR the above reasons the petition is allowed and the proceedings in P. R. C. No. 2 of 2002 on the file of the Court of the IX Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad against the petitioner are quashed.