Bombay High Court
Binod S/O Ratan Sarkar vs The State Of Maharashtra on 31 July, 2013
Author: P.N.Deshmukh
Bench: B.R. Gavai, P.N. Deshmukh
1 apl327.13.odt
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY,
NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR.
Criminal Application (APL) No.327 of 2013
1. Binod S/o Ratan Sarkar,
Age - 62 years, Occupation - Service,
R/o Uttam Nagar, Mul Road,
Chandrapur.
2. Ramesh S/o Manoranjan Sarkar,
Age - 42 years, Occupation - Service,
R/o Apeksha Nagar, Wadgaon Ward,
Chandrapur.
3. Ramesh S/o Laxman Bar,
Age - 33 years, Occupation - Service,
R/o Prajati Nagar,
Chandrapur.
4. Somnath S/o Ashruba Jadhav,
Age - 33 years, Occupation - Service,
R/o Shyam Nagar, Jadhav Palace,
Chandrapur. ..... Applicants.
:: versus ::
1. The State of Maharashtra,
Through the Police Station Officer,
Police Station Ram Nagar,
District - Chandrapur.
2. Chayna Sushmay Pottdar,
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Age - 46, Occupation - Service,
R/o Bengali Camp, Mul Road,
Chandrapur (P.S.Ram Nagar) ..... Non-applicants.
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Shri S.V.Sirpurkar, counsel for Applicants.
Shri T.A.Mirza, Additional Public Prosecutor for Non-applicant
No.1.
Shri A.P.Prasad, counsel for Non-applicant No.2
==========================================
CORAM : B. R. GAVAI &
P. N. DESHMUKH, JJ.
igDATE : 31st JULY, 2013.
ORAL JUDGMENT : (Per : P.N.Deshmukh, J.)
1. The facts, in brief, giving rise to the present application, are as under :
That applicant No.1 - Binod is a Secretary of Coal City Urban Co-operative Credit Society Limited, situated at Bengali Camp, Chandrapur, whereas applicant Nos.2 to 4 are its Board of Directors. Non-applicant No.2 - Smt. Chayna Pottdar, wife of deceased Sushmay Pottdar, lodged a complaint on 4.1.2013 alleging therein that she was working as a Manager in the said Society while her deceased husband was the President thereof.
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3 apl327.13.odt It is further alleged that applicants used to pressurize the deceased for passing loans involving huge amount even on accepting low security and that the applicants used to interfere in the day-to-day routine work of the deceased and also used to take commission on passing of loan. It is further alleged that the applicants used to pressurize the deceased to employ their relatives in the Society and on completion of one month of their service they used to make demand for rise in their salaries. It is further alleged that applicant No.1 had malafidely transferred the complainant from one branch to another branch which had caused great hardship to her as well as to her deceased husband.
It is thus complained that due to such conduct of the applicants towards the deceased husband of the complainant he always used to be under mental tension and as such committed suicide on 1.1.2013.
2. According to the applicants, after this incident of suicide of Sushmay, non-applicant No.2 lodged false report with Police Station, Ram Nagar, on 4.1.2013, on the basis of which Crime No.8 of 2013 came to be registered for an offence punishable under Section 306 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code .....4/-
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3. It is the case of the applicants that from bare perusal of the report lodged by non-applicant No.2, no offence under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code could be made out and that till date no charge-sheet has been filed by non-applicant No.1.
According to applicants, they have at no point of time either instigated or abetted or aided the deceased to commit suicide, however, having been falsely involved by non-applicant No.2, have approached this Court for quashing of F.I.R. since the same is filed with an ill-intention.
4. Shri S.V.Sirpurkar, the learned counsel appearing for the applicants, submits that on bare perusal of the F.I.R., it can be seen that incident is dated 1.1.2013 while the report is lodged after three days of the alleged incident and thus there is every possibility of false implication of the applicants by non-applicant No.2, who even otherwise was having grudge against the applicants while working as Manager of the said Society.
5. It is further submitted that in fact, it is the deceased who .....5/-
::: Downloaded on - 27/08/2013 21:13:10 :::5 apl327.13.odt used to grant huge loans without obtaining proper security, to the persons residing outside the jurisdiction of the said Society which fact was regularly brought to the notice of the deceased by the applicants in the meetings and since there was non-
payment of said advanced loans, deceased for this reason always used to be under mental pressure and thus might have committed suicide. As such according to applicants they are in no way concerned with the alleged incident in any manner whatsoever.
6. Shri Sirpurkar, the learned counsel, also refers to the provisions of Sections 306 and 107 of the Indian Penal Code together with the contents of the F.I.R. and has demonstrated as to how no ingredient of above Sections could be made out even on plain reading of the F.I.R..
7. Shri Sirpurkar, the learned counsel, in support of his case, has relied upon the judgments of the Apex Court in the cases of Madan Mohan Singh ..vs.. State of Gujarat and another, reported at (2010) 8 SCC 628; S.S.Chheena ..vs.. Vijay Kumar Mahajan & another reported at 2010 ALL MR (Cri) 3298 .....6/-
::: Downloaded on - 27/08/2013 21:13:10 :::6 apl327.13.odt (S.C.) and judgment of this Court in the case of Dr. Mrs. Seema Ajay Bhoosreddy ..vs.. The State of Maharashtra, reported at 2011 ALL MR (Cri) 3326.
8. Non-applicant No.1, by filing an affidavit-in-reply of the Investigating Officer, opposed the application on the ground that during course of investigation suicide note came to be seized which implicates all the applicants as well as the witnesses whose statements are recorded also indicates that the applicants were continuously harassing the deceased on day to day functioning of the Society by insisting the deceased to act as per their directions only, due to which deceased had committed suicide.
9. Shri T.A.Mirza, the learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for non-applicant No.1 - State, submits that in view of the fact that the suicide note does not bear any signature particularly that of the deceased nor disclose any reason for committing suicide. Same is forwarded to the handwriting expert for seeking opinion, if it is in the handwriting of the deceased, on obtaining sample of handwriting of the deceased.
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10. Shri A.P.Prasad, the learned counsel appearing for non-
applicant No.2, also opposed the application by filing reply thereby submitting that the deceased was earlier working as Manager in Vijaya Bank in the State of Andhra Pradesh.
However, on obtaining voluntary retirement from service, he shifted to Chandrapur and since having knowledge of business of banking, established Coal City Urban Co-operative Credit Society Limited and was its President. Applicant No.1 came to be inducted as its Secretary and applicant Nos.2 to 4 as its Directors. It is further alleged that about two years prior to the incident, applicants started interfering with the smooth functioning of the Society and thereby caused mental harassment to the deceased and also attempted to take control over entire affairs of the society in their hands by spreading rumours amongst public that if the borrowers approach them for availing loans, the same can be processed faster since the deceased/President of the Society is no more vested with powers of grant of loans etc. It is also case of non-applicant No.2 that the applicants used to insult the deceased by speaking with him in filthy language whenever the deceased opposed for advancing .....8/-
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According to the complainant, on 31.12.2013, there was heated argument between the applicants and the deceased, in the chamber of the deceased, on trifle issues and at that time the applicants had threatened deceased that they would remove him from the post of the President and implicate him in a criminal case, thus, the deceased was required to take medical treatment.
On 1.1.2013, the deceased as usual went to his office, however, he saw that the applicants were present in his chamber and due to their fear he returned back home in restless mood and on the same day in the afternoon committed suicide by hanging.
11. Shri Prasad, the learned counsel, also contends that since, according to the prosecution, suicide note is seized during the course of the investigation, it is a prima facie evidence against the applicants since their names are mentioned therein. It is thus contended that in view of the fact that investigation is still in progress, the instant application cannot be considered at this stage and thus needs to be dismissed.
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12. We have perused the case diary produced by the learned Additional Public Prosecutor. The contents of the F.I.R. when perused reveal that the same is lodged on 4.1.2013 by non-
applicant No.2, alleging therein that the deceased had established Coal City Urban Co-operative Credit Society Limited of which he was the Chairman while the complainant was the Manager and the applicants were the Board of Directors. The F.I.R. further reveals of allegations of applicants' pressurizing the deceased to sanction loans due to which the deceased used to remain under tension and that the applicants were taking commission from the persons to whom loans are provided.
Further allegations are about transfer of non-applicant No.2 and pressurizing tactics of the applicants on the deceased to employ their persons in service and about increase in their salaries as has been set out in the application.
13. Shri Prasad, the learned counsel, in support of his contention, has relied upon the judgments of the Apex Court in the cases of :
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10 apl327.13.odt Chitresh Kumar Chopra ..vs.. State (Govt.
of NCT of Delhi), reported at [2010 AIR SCW 645] Central Bureau of Investigation ..vs..
K.M.Sharan, reported at AIR 2008 SC (Supp) 1503 State of A.P. ..vs.. Bajjoori Kanthaiah and Anr., reported at AIR 2009 SC 671
14. By now, in a catena of judgments, the Apex Court has considered the scope and meaning of "abetment" under Sections 107 and 306 of the Indian Penal Code to find out whether the charge and conviction for an offence under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code can be sustained merely on the allegations of harassment of the deceased and whether the ingredients of abetment are attracted on the basis of the statement of the deceased.
15. In order to properly comprehend the scope and ambit of Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, it is important to carefully examine the basic ingredients of Section 306. The said Section, is reproduced, thus :
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11 apl327.13.odt "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."
"Abetment" has been defined under Section 107 of the Indian Penal Code. The said Section, is reproduced, thus :
"107. Abetment of a thing A person abets the doing of a thing, who -
First- Instigates any person to do that thing;
or Secondly- Engages with one or more other person or persons in any conspiracy for the doing of that thing, if an act or illegal omission takes place in pursuance of that conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing; or Thirdly- Intentionally aids, by any act or illegal omission, the doing of that thing.
Explanation 1- A person who by willful misrepresentation, or by willful concealment of a material fact which he is bound to disclose, voluntarily causes or procures, or .....12/-::: Downloaded on - 27/08/2013 21:13:11 :::
12 apl327.13.odt attempts to cause or procure, a thing to be done, is said to instigate the doing of that thing.
Illustration A, a public officer, is authorized by a warrant from a Court of Justice to apprehend Z. B, knowing that fact and also that C is not Z, willfully represents to A that C is Z, and thereby intentionally causes A to apprehend C. Here B abets by instigation the apprehension of C. Explanation 2- Whoever, either prior to or at the time of the commission of an act, does anything in order to facilitate the commission of that act, and thereby facilitate the commission thereof, is said to aid the doing of that act."
16. Thus, the offence of abetment is a separate and distinct offence provided in the Act as an offence. A person, abets the doing of a thing when he instigates any person to do that thing;
or (2) engages with one or more other persons in any conspiracy for the doing of that thing; or (3) intentionally aids, by act or illegal omission, the doing of that thing. These things are essential to complete abetment as a crime. The word "instigate"
literally means to provoke, incite, urge on or bring about by persuasion to do any thing. The abetment may be by .....13/-
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As such, in case of abetment of suicide there must be proof of direct or indirect acts of incitement to the commission of suicide.
17. In the case of Madan Mohan Singh cited supra, on considering the alleged suicide note as well as the F.I.R., the Apex Court observed, thus :
"11. In spite of our best efforts and microscopic examination of the suicide note and the FIR, all that we find is that the suicide note is a rhetoric document in the nature of a departmental complaint. It also suggests some mental imbalance on the part of the deceased which he himself describes as depression. In the so-called suicide note, it cannot be said that the accused ever intended that the driver under him should commit suicide or should end his life and did anything in that behalf. Even if it is accepted that the accused changed the duty of the driver or that the accused asked him not to take the keys of the car and to keep the keys of the car in the office itself, it does not mean that the accused intended or knew that the driver should commit suicide because of this."
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::: Downloaded on - 27/08/2013 21:13:11 :::14 apl327.13.odt and further observed that the suicide note and the F.I.R. do not impress at all as they cannot be depicted as expressing anything intentional on the part of the accused that the deceased might commit suicide. If the prosecutions are allowed to continue on such basis, it will be difficult for every superior officer even to work.
18. In the case of S.S.Cheena cited supra, the facts are as follows :
"There was a dispute between one Saurao Mahajan, who was a final year student of Law Department and Harminder Singh, a fellow student of the same class with regard to the theft of a mobile phone. This came to the notice of M.D.Singh, the then Head of the Law Department who asked both the students to submit their versions of the incident in writing. The deceased and Harminder gave their versions and, thereafter, M.D.Singh forwarded their versions to the University authorities for taking necessary action. An inquiry was conducted on 13th October 2003 by the Security Officer of the University Shri S.S.Chheena. During the course of inquiry, on 17th October 2003, Saurav Mahajan committed suicide by jumping in front of the train. A suicide note was seized from the the pocket of the deceased. On the complaint of father of the deceased, an .....15/-::: Downloaded on - 27/08/2013 21:13:11 :::
15 apl327.13.odt offence under section 306 of I.P.C. was registered against Harminder Singh. During the course of trial, S.S.Cheena was also impleaded as accused. Being aggrieved by the framing of charge, S.S.Cheena approached the High Court. The High Court refused to interfere. Being aggrieved thereby, said S.S.Cheena approached the ٍSupreme Court. The Apex Court observed thus :
"27. this Court in Chitresh Kumar Chopra Vs. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi) (2009) 16 SCC 605 had an ig occasion to deal with this aspect of abetment. The Court dealt with the dictionary meaning of the words "instigation" and "goading". The Court opined that there should be intention to provoke, incite or encourage the doing of an act by the latter. Each person's suicidability pattern is different from the other. Each person has his own idea of selfesteem and selfrespect. Therefore, it is impossible to lay down any straitjacket formula in dealing with such cases. Each case has to be decided on the basis of its own facts and circumstances.
19. In the case of Dr.Mrs. Seema Ajay Bhoosreddy cited supra of this Court, wherein one of us (B.R.Gavai, J.) in similar set of facts had an occasion to consider the scope of Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.
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::: Downloaded on - 27/08/2013 21:13:11 :::16 apl327.13.odt The crux of the fact is thus :
"4. The applicant Dr.Mrs.Seema Ajay Bhoosreddy is working as Professor in MGV Dental College and Hospital, Nashik. She is teaching the subject of oral surgery. The other applicant Dr. Nitin Hemchandra Dani is a Professor and Head of Department of Peridontology in the same Dental College. The deceased Sneha Dandale was a student studying in last year of BDS course. The deceased committed suicide on 10th December 2005 and on the basis of the complaint of Shri Anil Ratnakar Dandade, the father of the deceased alleging therein that the present applicants and other doctors had targeted the deceased and asked her to complete the difficult course within a short time and had threatened her, she committed suicide, an F.I.R. came to to be registered. After filing of the chargesheet, the case was committed to the Sessions Court. Since, according to the applicants, from the material placed in the chargesheet, the ingredients to constitute offence punishable under Section 306 were not made out, they filed application for discharge.
The same was rejected."
Considering the law laid down by the Apex Court in the cases of Madan Mohan Singh and S.S.Chhena cited supra, this Court has held that for proceeding further with the trial against the accused for an offence punishable under section 306, .....17/-
::: Downloaded on - 27/08/2013 21:13:11 :::17 apl327.13.odt it is necessary for the prosecution to, at least, prima facie establish that the accused had an intention to aid or instigate or abet the deceased to commit suicide. In the absence of availability of such material, the accused cannot be compelled to face trial for the offence punishable under Section 306. An abatement involves mental process of instigating the person or intentionally aiding the person for doing of a thing. Without a positive act on the part of the accused in aiding or instigating or abetting the deceased to commit suicide, the said person cannot be compelled to face a trial. Unless there is clear mens rea to commit the offence or an active act or direct act which led the deceased to commit suicide seeing no option or the act intending to push the deceased into such a position, the trial against the accused under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code cannot be permitted.
20. After considering the above legal position when the F.I.R.
as stated herein above in the application in hand is perused, do not spell out any of the ingredient attracting Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.
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21. On bare perusal of the F.I.R. by no stretch of imagination it can be said that the applicants in any way abetted or instigated the deceased to commit suicide. Similarly, the statements on record would also not support the case of the prosecution involving the applicants in the offence punishable under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code. On the contrary, the statements reveal that the loans were sanctioned to the borrowers in consultation of the deceased as well as of the applicants. From the statements though it is alleged to have stated that on the say of the applicants borrowers were not making re-payment of loan amount that by itself do not directly or indirectly establish involvement of the applicants for commission of suicide of deceased Sushmay as there is nothing on record that applicants intentionally or in any manner engaged themselves in abetting or has instigated the deceased to commit suicide at any point of time, much less than on 1.1.2013.
22. Similarly, perusal of the suicide note reveals that except for titling it as "jimmedar" there is neither signature nor date having mentioned therein, and mere names of the applicants along with one more name who appears to be the borrower is stated .....19/-
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Thus, considering the law laid down as discussed herein above, and facts of the application we find that there is nothing to establish the complicity of the applicants in the present case.
23. We have considered the law relied upon on behalf of non-
applicant No.2 in the case of Chitresh Kumar Chopra cited supra. In that case, there was evidence, showing threats given to the deceased, as one of the witnesses by name Kartar Singh said that C.K.K.Chopra was heard saying to the deceased that the deceased had become dishonest as he was refusing to sign on paper in which the share in some joint property was shown would to be 10%. On another occasion, Chopra was heard by this witness to say that Chopra would ruin the deceased if he did not give up his claim for 25% and did not agree to accept 10%.
Witness Padam Bahadur had stated inter alia that he overheard Jahoor and Mahavir telling the deceased that Chopra had asked them to say that this was the last opportunity to sign the document and that if he wanted to live in the society he should sign the agreement or should die by taking poison. Soon thereafter the deceased committed suicide. Thus, we find in .....20/-
::: Downloaded on - 27/08/2013 21:13:11 :::20 apl327.13.odt that case, the evidence collected by the investigation suggested that the deceased had been actually pushed to the wall and the escape by committing suicide was suggested by the accused persons, which is not the case in hand. There is absolutely no any evidence to suggest that the applicants at any point of time had done any act which can be said to be an intentional aid or to instigate or abet the deceased to commit suicide.
24. The law relied upon by Shri Prasad, the learned counsel appearing for non-applicant No.2, in the cases of State of A.P. and in Central Bureau of Investigation cited supra, cannot directly be applied to the case in hand as the Apex Court in both these judgments had cautioned the Court to be careful while invoking the powers to quash the F.I.R. observing, that the Court must be careful to see that its decision in exercise of this power is based on sound principles. The inherent power should not be exercised to stifle a legitimate prosecution. The High Court should normally refrain from giving a prima facie decision in a case where all the facts are incomplete and hazy; more so when the evidence has not been collected and produced before the Court and the issues involved, whether factual or legal, are of .....21/-
::: Downloaded on - 27/08/2013 21:13:11 :::21 apl327.13.odt such magnitude that they cannot be seen in their true perspective without sufficient material.
25. On careful perusal of the entire material on record together with the law relied in the judgments delivered by the Apex Court as well as by this Court, we can safely arrive at the conclusion that the applicants are not even remotely connected with the offence punishable under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.
From the aforesaid circumstances, we are clearly of the view that the ingredients of "abetment" are totally absent in the instant case for the offence under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, as for proceeding with the trial against the accused for offence punishable under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code it is necessary for the prosecution to at least prima facie establish that the accused had an intention to aid the deceased to commit suicide. In the absence of availability of such material, the applicants cannot be compelled for any action for the offence punishable under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, as there is absolutely no any positive act on the part of the applicants in the present case involving suicidal death of the deceased. In that view of the matter, the criminal application is .....22/-
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26. The Criminal Application is allowed.
27. Rule is made absolute in terms of prayer clause (i) of the Criminal Application.
JUDGE JUDGE
!! wankhede !!
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