The Allahabad High Court recently granted bail to a woman and her alleged lover in an abetment of suicide case where the woman's husband allegedly had taken his life on account of her extra-marital affair.
The bench of Justice Rahul Chaturvedi observed that "Even assumed for the sake of argument, the prosecution story to be true on the face value.....The deceased seems to be too sensitive and possessive about his wife, he has many other avenues and alternatives to get rid off her instead of taking his own life by hanging."
Therefore, being in line with the Apex Court's guidelines in cases involving extra-marital relationships and their probable consequences, the High Court opined that the wife and her alleged lover deserved to be bailed out.
Referring to Pinakin Mahipatray Rawal Vs. State of Gujrat(2014), the Court said that while dealing with such types of cases where either of the parties committed suicide on the basis of suspicion that counterpart has developed a certain amount of intimate relationship with some third person, the Supreme court has held,
"To constitute an offence under Section 306, the prosecution has to establish that a person has committed suicide and the suicide was abetted by the accused. Prosecution has to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the deceased committed suicide and the accused abetted the commission of suicide."
Court also referred to Ghusabhai Raisangbhai Chourasia and others Vs. State of Gujrat (2015), wherein the Supreme Court held that "Mere extra-marital relationship, even if proved, would be illegal and immoral, but it would take a different character if the prosecution brings some evidence on record to show that the accused had conducted in such a manner to drive the wife to commit suicide."
Accordingly, keeping in view the nature of the offence, evidence, complicity of the accused in the death of the deceased, the high court decided to release the woman and her alleged lover on bail.
Matter in Brief
The court was hearing the bail pleas of one Najim Hussain and Areeba both accused under Section 306 of Indian Penal Code i.e. 'abetment of suicide'. Both of them were in jail since September 9, 2021.
As per the prosecution case, on August 22, 2021 Areeba, wife of deceased Jakir, had called and informed Jakir's brother-in-law (Behnoi) that Jakir had sustained a sudden cardiac arrest. Receiving this news, Jakir's elder brother Danish (informant in the case) ran to Jakir's place and saw that Jakir's dead body was lying on the bed and had a ligature mark around his neck.
In the FIR, Danish had alleged that Najim often used to visit his brother's place and had developed an intimate relationship with Jakir's wife Areeba. He had averred that on this account, Jakir and his wife were often in quarreling terms which was a severe cause of mental concern of his brother Jakir. On basis of this, he had alleged that it was his firm belief that his brother had committed suicide.
It had also come on record that various witnesses in the case have said that the people talked in Najim's locality with regard to his involvement with another woman.
However, in conclusion, though stating that the deceased being the husband felt betrayed and to digest this humiliation committed suicide the high court opined in favor of Nazim and Areeba and released them on bail.
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