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Marriage and Divorce Law
Penal Remedies
Abetment of suicide is confined to the case of person who cruelty
aids the commission of suicide by the hand of person herself who
commits suicide.
Section 498-A deals with cruelty by husband or relatives of
husband and reads as follows:
Explanation – For the purpose of this Section, ‘cruelty’ means:
(a) any willful conduct which is of such a nature as is
likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave
injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or
physical) of the woman; or harassment of the woman where such
harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to
her to meet an.
Explanation – For the purpose of this Section, ‘cruelty’ means:
(b) any willful conduct which is of such a nature as is
likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave
injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or
physical) of the woman; or
(c) Harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a
view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any
unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on
account of failure by her or any person related to her meet such
demand”.
Section 306 deals with abetment of suicide and reads as
follows:
“306. Abetment of suicide: If any person commits suicide, whoever
abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to
ten years, and shall also be liable to fine”.
Before Section 306, IPC can be acted upon, there must be clear
proof of the fact that the death in question was a suicidal death
when the question is whether commission of suicide by a woman had
been abetted by her husband or any relative or her husband and it
is shown that she had committed suicide within a period of seven
years from the date of her marriage, and that her husband or
relative of her husband had subjected her to cruelty, the court
may presume having regard to all other circumstances of the case,
that such suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such
relative of her husband.
The sine qua non for application of Section 306, IPC is the factum
of suicide, where circumstances do not establish either murder or
an abetted suicide, the accused are acquitted of Section 300 and
306 IPC but they can be convicted under Section 498A IPC.
The offence of ‘abetment’ must naturally conform to the definition
of that term given in Section 107 IPC, that is to say, there must
be instigation, co-operation or intentional assistance given to
the would be suicide. It is neither necessary, nor it is a part of
definition, that the suicide has been committed in consequence of
the abetment. In order to render a person liable as an abettor. It
is of course necessary, as indeed it is in the case of any other
offence, that the abettor should be something more than a mute
spectator- spectator hand practices. It is conceivable that such
presence may encourage a woman to do a deed, which she might
otherwise refrain from suicide places herself beyond the reach of
law, but its abetment does not.
An important provision was introduced by Act no. 43 of 1986 to
attach presumption of unnatural death in terms of Section 113-B of
the Evidence Act in a case where Section 304-B is applicable. In a
case of mental torture even if the girl does not commit suicide
that would amount to an offence of cruelty within the meaning of
Section 498-A which has been brought into existence by Section 2
of Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act, 1989.
Where a married girl commits suicide within 7 years of marriage,
the court may presume by virtue of newly created Section in the
Indian Evidence Act, 1872, viz, Section 113-A that her husband and
relatives had abetted her to commit suicide. The complaint has to
establish that harassment was with a view to force the victim to
commit suicide or to fulfill illegal demand of dowry. The Section
has given a new dimension to the concept of cruelty for the
purposes of matrimonial remedies and that the type of conduct
described would be relevant for proving cruelty.
“498-A. Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her
to cruelty: Wherever, being the husband or the relative of the
husband or a woman subjects such woman to cruelty, shall be
punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three
years and shall also be liable to fine”.
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