Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: February 09, 2022 at 16:51 IST
The Andhra Pradesh High Court on February 1, 2022 quashed a part of First Information Report (FIR) which charged a person of Abetment of Suicide. The Court observed that just because a person was beaten up by the Appellant and that person tried to commit suicide out of shame, the incident does not amount to Abetment of Suicide by the Appellant.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court Bench of Justice Cheekati Manavendranath Roy was hearing a Criminal Petition which sought quashing of an FIR filed against the Appellant, which charged him of Offences punishable under Sections 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 306 (Abetment of Suicide) read with Section 116 (Abetment of offence punishable with imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code.
The case is pertaining to when the de facto complainant was beaten up by the Petitioner in a vegetable market, as the de facto complainant had asked the Petitioner as to why he was collecting a higher payment for ‘aaseelu’(chicken).
As a result of embarrassment, ashamed of being beaten up in public, the de facto complainant tried to commit suicide by consuming rat poison.
The Counsel for the Appellant put forth an argument that in vide of facts of the case, the offence of Abetment of Suicide cannot be constituted, as the Appellant did not instigate the de facto complainant to commit suicide.
In light of all the facts and argument made, the High Court observed that, “There is absolutely no allegation as can be seen from the facts of the prosecution case that the petitioner has either instigated or aided him to commit suicide.”
The High Court stated that, “the Criminal Petition is partly allowed quashing the F.I.R for the offence punishable under Section 306 r/w 116 IPC.” However, the Single-Judge Bench did not quash the part of the FIR which charged the Petitioner under Section 323.
Also read: Decriminalizing Attempt to Suicide in India