High Court
Legal Reasoning
-1- Cri.Appln.804.2022IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAYBENCH AT AURANGABADCRIMINAL APPLICATION NO.804 OF 20221.Devanand S/o Manohar Gaikwad,Age : 29 years, Occu. : Education, R/o : Temburni, Taluka : Ahmedpur,District : Latur 2.Suhas S/o Kahnderao Gaikwad,Age : 20 years, Occu. : Education, R/o Temburni, Taluka : Ahmedpur,District : Latur3.Akshay S/o Jalba Gaikwad,Age : 26 years, Occu. : Meson, R/o Mohija(paranda), Taluka : Kandhar,District : Nanded4.Eknath S/o Nivrutti Gaikwad,Age : 81 years, Occu. Agril.,R/o Temburni, Taluka : Ahmedpur,District : Latur 5.Vishwamber S/o Ganpati Masure,Age : 38 years, Occu. : Business, R/o Hali, Taluka : Udgir, District : Latur6.Suraj S/o Nivrattirao Sherlikar,Age : 26 years, Occu. : Service, R/o. Udgir, Taluka : Udgir,District : Latur … Applicants Versus1.The State of Maharashtra,Through Ahmedpur Police Station, Latur, District Latur 2.Shashikala Shripati Kasle,Aged : 51 years, Occu. : Labour, R/o. Tembhurni, Taluka : Ahmedpur, District : Latur… Respondents. (Resp. No.2 Orig. Informant)
Legal Reasoning
-2- Cri.Appln.804.2022…Mr. Babasaheb S. Bhale, Advocate for Applicants. Mr. S. A. Gaikwad, APP for Respondent – State.Mr Onkar Waghule, Advocate for Respondent No.2 (Appointed)....CORAM : SMT. VIBHA KANKANWADI ANDABHAY S. WAGHWASE, JJ.DATED : 12th AUGUST, 2024ORDER (PER ABHAY S. WAGHWASE, J.) :1.The FIR at the instance of respondent no.2 bearing No. 444of 2021 registered with Ahmedpur Police Station, Tq. Ahmedpur, DistrictLatur for the offence punishable under Sections 306, 323, 506 r/wsection 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, “IPC”) and theconsequential proceedings arising out of it, are both sought to be quashedby the applicants herein praying to invoke inherent powers of this Courtunder Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short,“Cr.P.C.”).2.Pleading innocence and false implication, learned counselfor applicants submitted that, deceased Kondiba allegedly had somerelations with daughter of one Khandu Gaikwad. In that backdrop,relatives of Khandu Gaikwad were beating deceased Kondiba. Learnedcounsel pointed out that, two instances are quoted by informant, butthere are general allegations that relatives of Khandu beat deceased and -3- Cri.Appln.804.2022because of harassment at their instance, deceased committed suicide.Details of relatives and their relations are not given. It is pointed outthat, alleged suicide is noticed on 19.10.2021, whereas missing report isof 17.10.2021. It is pointed out that, no specific acts of any of theapplicants are defined and moreover according to him, requiredingredients of abetment, inducement or positive act on the part ofpresent applicants is patently missing from the FIR. That, present FIR ismerely out of annoyance. That, it is abuse of process of law and withsuch allegations, he submitted that, FIR as well as charge-sheet resultinginto trial will put them to hardship and when none of the essentialrequirements are present, it is his submissions that, said exercise wouldbe a futility and rather including inflict injustice and hardship forapplicant and hence he prays to grant the relief as prayed.3.In answer to above, learned APP submitted that, there arespecific allegations about beating deceased at two times. That, there wasno other reason for Kondiba to commit suicide. That, his family membershave noticed that he was under mental stress and applicants are solelyresponsible for the same, according to learned APP, applicants need toface trial.4.Perused the FIR and papers placed before the court. It seems -4- Cri.Appln.804.2022that Ahmedpur police station registered crime on report dated19.10.2021 regarding commission of offence punishable under sections306, 323, 506 read with section 34 of IPC. 5.After hearing learned counsel for the applicants as well ason going through the FIR, it is emerging that, report is at the instance ofmother of deceased Kondiba. The sum and substance of FIR is that, therewas love affair between deceased Kondiba and daughter of KhanduGaikwad. In that backdrop, it is alleged that twice her son Kondiba wasgiven thrashing by relatives of the girl, of which crime was registeredbearing No.220 of 2021. According to informant, on 16.10.2021 around8:00 p.m. after having meals, all of them retired and went to sleep.Around midnight of 17.10.2021, her other son, namely Santosh returnedhome and asked where was deceased Kondiba and she told him that, hewas sleeping in the shed outside the room. That, her son Kondiba was notseen in the shed, however, his mobile, shirt and footwear were lyingthere, and therefore search was undertaken and consequently missingreport was lodged. Informant has alleged that, on 18.10.2021,grandfather of the girl namely Eknath Nivrutti Gaikwad had also paidvisit to the house of informant and issued threats. According toinformant, on 19.10.2021, one Mahadeo Jabhade came and informedabout seeing dead body of Kondiba lying in the well belonging to one -5- Cri.Appln.804.2022Wani when he had been to fetch water. Therefore, mother has allegedthat, because of beating and harassment at the hands of relatives of thegirl, her son committed suicide by jumping in the well.6.It is conspicuously emerging from the report that, twoinstances are quoted by informant. While alleging that, there was loverelations between her son Kondiba and daughter of Khandu and thattwice Kondiba was beaten by relatives, she has not specified the names ofsaid relatives of the girl. Second instance which she has quoted is that,once when her son went to Ambajogai, there also relatives of the girl beather son. Even in the second instance also, none of the so called relativesare named. Apparently, it is also emerging that, deceased was in thehouse on the night of 17.10.2021. His dead body was traced in the wellon 19.10.2021 i.e. in the well of a person named Prakash Bharade atvillage Tembhurni. Informant has not stated that, the present applicantshad indulged in any overt act prior to her son leaving the house to go andjump in the well i.e. on 17.10.2021. She has quoted incident of visit ofgrandfather, namely Eknath, but it is of 18.10.2021 i.e. the day afterKondiba went missing from the house. 7.Therefore, taking all above dates into consideration andwhen there is no material to show that there was any act or overt act at -6- Cri.Appln.804.2022the instance of present applicants, not specifically naming them forbeating Kondiba or harassing him in any manner, it cannot be said thatbecause of the treatment meted out by them to deceased, he ended up hislife. There is no material suggesting their role in proximity to deceasedgoing missing or deceased found dead. Admittedly, dead body ofdeceased was not noticed in the village itself even when search was takenfrom the night of 17.10.2021 till 19.10.2021.8.Autopsy doctor has merely attributed death to be drowningby preserving viscera. Viscera report is also nil.9.In order to attract the charge of section 306 of IPC, it isincumbent upon prosecution to establish incitement, instigation, aidingor abetment to commit suicide. Law to this extent has been fairly settledin series of cases. Scope of Sections 107 and 306 has been time and againdecided by the Hon’ble Apex Court in the cases viz; Ramesh Kumar v.State of Chhatisgarh reported in (2001) 9 SCC 618; Sanju @ SanjaySingh Sengar v. State of M.P. reported in (2002) 5 SCC 371; State ofWest Bengal v. Indrajit Kundu and others reported in (2019) 10 SCC188; V. P. Singh etc. v. State of Punjab and others reported in 2022 SCCOnline SC 1999; and very recently in the case of Kumar @ Shiva Kumarv. State of Karnataka [Criminal Appeal No.1427 of 2011 decided by theHon’ble Apex Court on 01.03.2024]. -7- Cri.Appln.804.2022 In above series of cases, it has been held and reiterated thataccused persons should intend that deceased should end up his/her life.With that object in mind, if they deliberately create circumstances, whichare of such nature, that deceased is left with no other alternative but toend up his/her life, only then charge of abetment to commit suicide canbe said to be successfully brought home. Abetment is equally an essentialfactor to be proved by prosecution.10.Keeping the above settled legal position in mind andconsidering the quality of allegations in the FIR in the instant case asdiscussed above, more particularly, when role of none of the applicants isdefined or spelt out, in the considered opinion of this court, it is unsafe toattribute abetment to commit suicide. There are no allegations directlyalleging abetment, instigation or inducement at their hands. Therefore,this court finds it a fit case to exercise the inherent powers under section482 of Cr.P.C. as it would apparently amount to abuse of process of lawagainst applicants. Resultantly, application deserves to be allowed andwe proceed to pass the following order :-ORDER(i)Criminal Application is allowed.(ii) The F.I.R. vide Crime bearing No.444 of 2021, dated19.10.2021 registered with Ahmedpur Police Station, Tq. -8- Cri.Appln.804.2022Ahmedpur, Dist. Latur for the offences punishable under sections306, 323 and 506 r/w section 34 of Indian Penal Code and casebearing Sessions Case No.29 of 2023 pending on the file of learnedSessions Judge at Ahmedpur are quashed and set aside. (iii)Remaining fees amount of Rs.5,000/- (Rupees Fivethousand) be paid to the counsel appointed to representrespondent no.2 as per order dated 07.12.2023.(ABHAY S. WAGHWASE, J.) (SMT. VIBHA KANKANWADI, J.) Tandale