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Suicide is a terrible tragedy. What makes it more terrible is that it is often avoidable. By mere words, one can prevent such a needless waste of life. However, the perversion of the same words may drive another person to take their own life. Such callousness, to push someone over the edge by attacking their psyche, is nothing short of murder. Thankfully, the Supreme Court condones this observation.
The case in question here is the suicide of a young woman, who, already in a depressed state of mind, decided to take her own life after being subjected to some harsh words by another woman. In a horrific turn of events, the victim set herself on fire to end her life, and prior to doing so, left a dying declaration which accused the lady who had berated her, and allegedly called her the equivalent of a prostitute.
The Trial Court heeded the suicide note and proceeded to prosecute the woman under Sec 306 of the IPC (abetting suicide) and doled out a verdict of three years of imprisonment. The accused sought appellate jurisdiction of superior courts in the matter. The High Court upheld the verdict, albeit reducing the sentence to one year.
The Supreme Court scrutinized the appeal and the facts of the case and validated the decision of the High Court. The bench comprising of Justice R Banumathi and Justice Vineet Saran declared that the abusive overtones of the lady’s remarks could very well have pushed the young, unmarried girl to take this drastic step.
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