Asking Deceased Not To Be Alive If She Cannot Live Without Marrying Her Lover Will Not Gain The Status Of Abetment Of Suicide: SC
The Supreme Court quashed abetment of suicide charges against a mother accused of disapproving her son’s marriage to the victim, allegedly leading to the victim’s suicide.

The Supreme Court has held that a remark such as asking the deceased to not be alive if she cannot live without marrying her lover will not gain the status of abetment of suicide.
The Court quashed the charges under Section 306 of the IPC against the Appellant accused of abetment of suicide. The Court partly set aside the Orders of the Calcutta High Court which had quashed the chargesheet only against two of the accused while rejecting the application preferred by the Appellant (Accused no. 4).
A Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma held, “Further, a remark such as asking the deceased to not be alive if she cannot live without marrying her lover will also not gain the status of abetment. There needs to be a positive act that creates an environment where the deceased is pushed to an edge in order to sustain the charge of Section 306 IPC.”
AOR Kunal Chatterji represented the Appellant, while Advocate Sanjeev Kaushik appeared for the Respondents.
Brief Facts
As per the Prosecution, the deceased was allegedly in a relationship with the son of the Appellant, who was also a co-accused in the case. The victim was found dead near a railway station and her death was recorded as an “unnatural death”. The post-mortem revealed injuries consistent with jumping in front of a train. An FIR was filed by the deceased's uncle, alleging abetment of suicide by the son and his family members, including the Appellant, under Sections 306 and 109 read with Section 34 of the IPC.
The witnesses alleged that a few days prior to the incident there were altercations between the deceased and the son of the Appellant, who refused to marry her. The allegation against the Appellant was that she disapproved of her son marrying the deceased and insulted the deceased on account of the same.
Court’s Reasoning
The Supreme Court held that “even if the allegations of the Appellant disapproving of their marriage are taken to be true, it does not make out an offense under Section 306 IPC.”
The Court held that there needs to be a positive act that creates an environment where the deceased feels pushed to an edge in order to sustain charges under Section 306 of the IPC.
“Even if all evidence on record, including the chargesheet and the witness statements, are taken to be correct, there is not an iota of evidence against the Appellant. We find that the acts of the Appellant are too remote and indirect to constitute the offense under Section 306 IPC. There is no allegation against the Appellant of a nature that the deceased was left with no alternative but to commit the unfortunate act of committing suicide,” it remarked.
Consequently, the Court ordered, “the impugned order is partly set aside to the extent that the charges against the Appellant herein were upheld by the High Court. Accordingly, the proceedings in SC Case No. 5(8)10 of 2011 pending on the file of the learned Additional District Judge, Sealdah stands quashed qua the Appellant/Smt. Laxmi Das only.”
Accordingly, the Supreme Court allowed the Appeal.
Cause Title: Laxmi Das v. State Of West Bengal & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 86)
Appearance:
Appellant: AOR Kunal Chatterji; Advocates Maitrayee Banerjee, Rohit Bansal and Mrinalini Mukherjee
Respondent: Advocates Sanjeev Kaushik, Simranjeet Singh Rekhi, Shriya Mishra, Manisha Pandey, Rahul Kushwaha, Shubhankar, M.k Rathor, Reegan S Bel, Pranshu Kaushal and Rakesh Kumar Tiwari; AOR Astha Sharma and Subhasish Bhowmick