If man commits suicide after breakup, can the girlfriend be held responsible? Chhattisgarh High Court gives big decision

By: Pune Pulse

December 13, 2023

Pune: The Chhattisgarh High Court recently ruled that a man’s girlfriend cannot be charged for abetting his suicide if the man commits suicide as a result of love failure.

As per further information, the judge of the case declared that no one could be held accountable if students killed themselves due to exam stress or if a petitioner committed suicide because their case was dismissed.

The judge said that it cannot be held that a woman, an examiner, or a lawyer encouraged a suicide if the suicide was caused by a lover’s unfulfilled romantic feelings, a student’s poor exam performance, or a petitioner’s case being dismissed. It is not acceptable to hold someone else accountable for helping a man with a fragile or weak mentality make the incorrect choice that leads to suicide.

As a result, the court dismissed the charges of aiding and abetting suicide against a woman and her two brothers, who had been charged with the former lover’s suicide.

According to the case, on January 23, 2023, the deceased committed suicide in his home. He blamed the woman and her brothers in a suicide note he left behind.

The man claimed to have had a love affair with the woman for at least eight years in his two-page suicide note. She did, however, end their relationship and get married to someone else. He went on to say that her brothers had threatened him by not letting him have any contact with their sister, which is why he had taken such drastic measures.

The police detained the three people in response to a complaint made by the man’s uncle, and on October 13, 2023, the District Court filed charges against them based on Sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The three filed a petition with the High Court challenging the district court’s order.

The prosecution based its case on the testimony of the man’s friends, family, and other relatives, who claimed that the woman’s brothers had threatened him, that she had borrowed money from him, refused to repay it, and ended their relationship. However, the judge of the case pointed out that there was no prima facie evidence to prove the charges against the woman and others.

The bench noted, citing the prosecution witnesses’ statements, that the man had stated his intention to end his life, citing ‘betrayal in love, threats of dire consequences, and false implication in a case’ as his motivation.

The court stated that because of the applicant’s betrayal, the deceased was depressed and felt pressured to take extreme measures, including ending his own life. Nevertheless, these declarations are insufficient to determine the applicants’ guilt, if any, for two reasons. First, each witness’s version is based on what the deceased said to them. Second, the applicants did not incite, conspire, or provoke the deceased to commit suicide.

The Court determined that the witnesses’ oral testimony amounted to ‘hearsay’ and was insufficient to establish a case against the applicants for aiding and abetting suicide.

The court further added that most notably, it is not stated when these threats were made, whether they were repeated during a single incident, or if they occurred a long time before the suicide or not long after etc. Furthermore, the deceased might have filed a police complaint if he had felt irritated and threatened. It thus highlighted the fact that the suicide letter did not indicate that the applicants intended the deceased to commit suicide; rather, it conveyed the deceased’s state of anguish towards the woman as a result of her betrayal in love.

The court further said that, to put it simply, there is nothing in the suicide letter to even suggest that the applicants have created such an atmosphere around the deceased that he had no choice but to commit suicide.

The Court dismissed the accusations against the three applications and cleared them off the case.

Shreyas Vange