Supreme Court Refuses To Interfere With Bombay High Court's Order Quashing FIR On Suicide Of Former MP Mohan Delkar

A bench headed by Chief Justice B R Gavai dismissed an appeal by Abhinav Delkar, son of the late Lok Sabha MP, against the Bombay High Court order of September 8, 2022, quashing the case against nine persons, including Patel.

The bench, also including Justice K Vinod Chandran, had reserved the verdict on the plea on August 4 after hearing Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for Abhinav, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the state government and Senior Lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani on behalf of some of the accused persons.

The FIR was registered after the death of Delkar, a seven-time MP from Dadra and Nagar Haveli, who was found dead at a hotel in Mumbai in 2021.

An alleged suicide note penned by him detailed harassment and intimidation, prompting police action against several persons, including top bureaucrats and political figures.

During the hearing, the bench examined whether the material on record, including the purported 30-page suicide note, could sustain charges under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of IPC.

“The person had time to think over and write 30 pages. Can we say it (the suicide) was at the spur of the moment?” the CJI asked previously.

He said individual responses to stress or harassment could differ.

“Someone who is sensitive may commit suicide, while someone with a hard heart may not,” the CJI had added.

Arora said Delkar’s mental state at the time of the incident was the result of a deep sense of public humiliation.

“He was distressed because he believed his public image had been destroyed. Look at what he has written to his wife and children…his family name mattered deeply to him,” she said.

On September 8, 2022, the High Court held it to be a fit case to quash the FIR to "prevent abuse of law" against the accused.

It also noted the contents of the FIR and reference made to the incident fell "too short" to show any "positive act" committed by the accused persons to abet the suicide of Delkar.

Delkar, 58, was found dead in a room at a hotel in Marine Drive in south Mumbai on February 22, 2021.

Patel and eight others were booked by the Mumbai police in March 2021 on charges of abetting the suicide and criminal intimidation of Delkar on a complaint lodged by his son Abhinav.

The parliamentarian was alleged to have died by suicide due to the harassment by the accused persons, who wanted to take control of the educational institutions he ran and to dissuade him from contesting elections.

The accused moved the High Court last year to get the FIR quashed, arguing they had been framed.