Calling Someone ‘Impotent’ Not Enough to Prove Abetment to Suicide: Supreme Court In Death Case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that using offensive language such as "impotent" does not amount to abetment to suicide under Indian law, as it set aside criminal proceedings against a couple accused of driving their son-in-law to take his own life.

A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice A G Masih overturned a Madras High Court order that had refused to quash the abetment case against the accused in-laws. The Supreme Court observed that the incident cited by the deceased in his suicide note did not amount to direct provocation or continuous harassment necessary to establish the offence under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The case involved a man who died by suicide a month after his in-laws allegedly insulted him and forcibly took their daughter back from his home. In his suicide note, the man alleged that his in-laws had harassed him and called him “impotent”, which he claimed deeply humiliated him.

However, the Supreme Court pointed out that there was no contact between the deceased and his in-laws during the month before his suicide, and no evidence of sustained cruelty or persistent provocation.

“Merely because the act of the accused is highly offensive to the deceased, would not by itself constitute abetment to suicide,” the bench said.

“The suicide note does not prove that the accused provoked the deceased or subjected him to any persistent cruelty or harassment, which is part of the offence of abetment to suicide,” it further stated.

The top court clarified that intent to abet suicide must be clear and visible, and cannot be simply assumed.

“Intent cannot be inferred. It must be clearly present and visible, which is missing in the present case,” the court said.

The bench emphasized that to establish abetment under Section 306 IPC, there must be active instigation, conspiracy, or aiding of the act of suicide by the accused. In this case, none of those conditions were fulfilled.

The ruling brought relief to the accused couple, who had faced legal proceedings after the man’s family filed a police case, alleging that the abusive remarks and interference in the marriage had pushed their son to end his life.