Our Take

Abetment to What?

Pioneer

Abetment to suicide is a very strange provision in the Indian Penal Code, an old Victorian-era set of laws that desperately needs to be changed. Short of actually encouraging someone to kill themselves by actively telling them to jump off a ledge or pull the trigger, we cannot and should not judge a broken relationship as the cause for suicide.

Relationships can break in many ways and people can have vastly different reactions to it. And yes, after the failure of a relationship whether or not formalised by marriage some people have, do and will continue to physically harm themselves, even kill themselves. Now, accusing the other partner of being a cad, player or unfaithful might win you sympathy in an emotional court of friends, but why should that apply in a court of lawIJ Why should courts judge human relationshipsIJ