Delhi HC upholds acquittal of man accused of driving wife to suicide

The Delhi High Court has upheld the acquittal of a man in his wife’s suicide case, saying that the mere existence of an extramarital affair of the husband was not enough to attract the offence.

The high court said since the couple was otherwise living happily, the allegation of demand for dowry was neither believable nor, in any manner, proved by the prosecution. “It thus becomes evident that mere existence of an extramarital affair is not sufficient to attract section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC. There is no material indicating any immediate or direct instigation or conduct of a nature, compelling Nazrin (victim) to commit suicide. We, therefore, do not find any perversity in the findings returned by the trial court,” a bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain said.

The court, by its December 12 judgment, dismissed an appeal filed by the prosecution challenging the acquittal of Hamid, who was accused of abetment to suicide after his wife died in November 2010.

According to the prosecution, Nazrin was brought to AIIMS on October 30, 2010, by her relatives with an alleged history of ‘attempted hanging’. Her mother told the police that her daughter had married Hamid in 2004 and the couple, who had two children, were living happily.

However, over the previous two years, Hamid indicated his intention to marry another woman, and that’s when the marriage hit a rough patch. The victim’s mother claimed that Hamid would beat his wife.

It was alleged that the man offered Rs 2 to 4 lakh to his wife to relieve him of marital obligations so that he could marry the other woman.

The victim’s mother claimed that her daughter could not have committed suicide and that she was killed by her husband and in-laws. Nazrin died in the hospital on November 30, 2010.

Hamid, on the other hand, claimed that his relationship with his wife was smooth till June 2010, when she got pregnant, and later, he learnt that she had undergone an abortion. Her behaviour changed thereafter, he claimed.

According to him, she looked depressed after the abortion and was taking some medicines. Challenging the man’s acquittal, the prosecutor contended that there was clear and unambiguous evidence suggesting the involvement of the accused in an extramarital affair with another woman, which amounted to cruelty.

He submitted that the trial court erroneously held that merely because the man’s religion permitted polygamy, he could not have abetted the suicide of his wife.

The high court, in its verdict, said, indubitably, the accused, if so wished, could have pronounced ‘talaq’ as per shariyat, but he, instead, continued with the existing marriage.

“His alleged offer of money to his wife to set him free also suggests that he did not want to remarry unless there was a formal severance of the existing marriage. We have seen the deposition of various other prosecution witnesses but no concrete material, suggesting instigation or abetment on the part of the accused, could be deciphered,” the bench said.

The court said the issue of the extramarital affair was in the knowledge of the victim and her parents for two years and was certainly not a new development.

No other recent act or behaviour, suggesting instigation or abetment, has been established which may indicate criminality on the part of the accused, it said.

Thus, even if the extramarital affair was believed to be true, it did not act as a catalyst for committing suicide, the court pronounced.