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2003 DIGILAW 388 (KER)

Shibu v. SI of Police

2003-06-18

G.SASIDHARAN

body2003
Judgment :- 1. Petitioner is the accused in Crime 215/2003 of North Parur Police Station the investigation of which is being proceeded alleging that the petitioner committed the offence under S.306 of the Indian Penal Code. Annexure-A1 is the first information report in which even though S.306 is shown as the section under which the offence which the petitioner is alleged to have committed is punishable what is said is that the defacto complainant made an attempt to commit suicide and it was the petitioner who abetted the commission of that act by the defacto complainant. The proceedings in the above crime are sought to be quashed by saying that even if the allegations in the first information report are taken to be true, it will not constitute an offence punishable under S.306 of the Indian Penal Code. 2. The submission made by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner is that S.306 of the Indian Penal Code is not attracted when the person, who made an attempt to commit suicide, did not die. Here admittedly the person, who made an attempt to commit suicide, did not die and that person is the defacto complainant. S.306 of the Indian Penal Code makes it clear that there will have to be suicide for attracting that section. Even in the opening portion of that section it is stated "if any person commits suicide" and that shows that the section will not be attracted when there is only attempt to commit suicide. Here, there is no suicide and admittedly there was only an attempt to commit suicide and a plain reading of S.306 would indicate that that section is not applicable when there is no suicide. 3. This aspect of the matter came up for consideration of the Supreme Court in the decision in Wazir Chand v. State of Haryana (AIR 1989 SC 378). There, the Supreme Court said that S.107 of the Indian Penal Code read along with S.306 would make it clear that if any person instigates any other person to commit suicide and as a result of such instigation the other person commits suicide, the person causing the instigation is liable to be punished under S.306 of the Indian Penal Code for abetting the commission of suicide. In that decision it was held that a plain reading of S.306 shows that before a person can be convicted of abetting the suicide of any other person it must be established that such other person committed suicide. 4. In another decision of the Supreme Court in Satvir Singh & Ors v. State of Punjab & Ann, 2001 SAR (Crl.) 883, the very same question came up again for consideration of the Supreme Court and it was observed that S.306 renders the person who abets the commission of suicide punishable for which the condition precedent is that suicide should necessarily have been committed. The Supreme Court went on to observe that nobody would abet a mere attempt to commit suicide. In the light of the observations made by the Supreme Court in the above two decisions, it is clear that in so far as there is no suicide there cannot be an offence punishable under S.306 of the Indian Penal Code. In the present case the defacto complainant says that an attempt to commit suicide was made by her and that it was the petitioner who abetted the commission of that Act. The Supreme Court in Satvir Singh's decision said that nobody would be able to abet a mere attempt to commit suicide and there can only be an abetment to commit suicide. In the above circumstances, I find that even if the entire allegations in the first information report are accepted as true, there will not be commission of offence punishable under S.306 of the Indian Penal Code. There is no allegation in the first information report that any other offence is committed by the petitioner. In the above circumstances, the first information report and all further proceedings in pursuance of registering of the crime have to be quashed. This petition is allowed on quashing Annexure Al first information report and all further proceedings pursuant to that.