NEW DELHI: Supreme Court has held that when the break-up of a relationship ends in suicide, it cannot always be termed abetment and a former partner prosecuted.A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran quashed criminal proceedings against a man and five of his family members who were being prosecuted for abetment after his live-in partner died by suicide after they broke up.“People react differently to situations and if a breakup ends up with suicide, it cannot always be termed an abetment to suicide. The refusal to marry was not with an intention to drive the woman to death by suicide nor can knowledge be attributed to the accused that on such refusal, she would die by suicide,” the bench said.
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The couple had been living together for a few mo-nths before the relationship ended. The woman’s relative lodged a case against the man and five of his family members, including his parents.“We are unable to find any instigation by the accused/appellants to drive the deceased to death by suicide. It was neither intended nor can it be said to be abetment. At worst, even if we fully believe what has been stated by the first informant, there was a refusal of marriage, which led to the woman committing suicide,” it noted.