Priya Gour
Published on: 24 August, 2022 at 18:28 IST
The Bombay High Court recently granted bail to a young boy, booked for abetment of suicide of his minor girlfriend. He was charged for abetting the suicide by his indifferent reaction to the news of the deceased girl’s pregnancy.
The single-judge bench of Justice Bharati Dangre noted from the medical evidence produced before the Court that the deceased girl was not pregnant but had taken the extreme step after she had missed her periods by two weeks and a test using a pregnancy kit had returned a positive result.
“In order to invoke offence under Section 306 of the IPC i.e. abetment to commit suicide, it is necessary to establish its ingredients, being instigation/incitement for the deceased to commit suicide. The sudden reaction of the applicant to the news of pregnancy, may fall short of it.”
It, therefore, granted bail to the accused Kunal Chabu Doke by considering the fact that the investigation was complete.
About The Case: Kunal Chabu Doke vs. State of Maharashtra
The two had become friends after meeting on the social media platform Instagram. They both shared a proximate relationship. Lately, in 2021, the girl’s mother had accused the boy of harassing her. A day before her suicide, the deceased girl informed the accused about her chances of being pregnant, to which the accused did not react and showed no interest. He did not bother to find any solution for the same and abused her. This made the deceased girl commit suicide, which led to her death.
The accused was booked under section 306 of IPC(abetment of suicide), rape (Section 376 IPC), and criminal intimidation (Section 506 IPC), as well as under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The judge agreed by seeing the evidence of their chat that the boy had acted indifferently when the deceased, then 16, informed him that she was pregnant. He had also abused her in filthy language, a day after which she died by suicide on March 3, 2021.
“The applicant, at the time of incident, was merely 19 years old and he has reacted in an indifferent manner which can be seen from the WhatsApp chat. The chat also reveals that the two were sharing proximate relationship.”
However, the Court said that as per the medical reports, the girl didn’t show any signs of pregnancy and the actual reason for the death of the victim was asphyxia due to hanging. The girl had taken the extreme step on the basis of a false positive pregnancy test.
“…the girl took extreme step on being revealed that she had missed her periods by two weeks and on the basis of some pregnancy test where it was revealed to her that she was pregnant. Hence, she established contact with the Applicant on her WhatsApp and immediately when he expressed indifferent approach, she took the extreme step of hanging herself in the house.”
Taking into account the boy’s young age, the court granted him bail subject to furnishing a bail bond of ₹25,000 and two sureties of the same amount.
“Considering the young age of the applicant, his incarceration on the completion of investigation is unwarranted. He shall ultimately face the consequences of his acts, when he shall face the trial,” the bench noted.
Also, the trial court should hold the trial without any influence from the High Court’s observations. The high court bench has only granted bail in the case.
Thereby, the bench granted bail to the accused boy, subject to furnishing a bail bond of ₹25,000 and two sureties of the same amount.