The Supreme Court on Friday quashed the abetment to suicide charges against three members of a family, holding that there was no evidence to prove that the accused had forced the woman to take the extreme step and observing that the law cannot be interpreted in a one-size-fits-all manner.

A bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K.V. Viswanathan passed the ruling while allowing an appeal filed by Prakash Pandurang Nagare, the husband of the deceased Jyoti Nagre, 25; Pandurang Kundlik Nagare, her father-in-law; and Pradip Pandurang Nagare, her brother-in-law. Jyoti died by suicide at her parents’ house on March 20, 2015, in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.

Jyoti’s family had alleged that she took the step as the trio on February 17, 2015, at a “Maha Lokadalat” organised to resolve their marital dispute, refused to allow her to return to her matrimonial home. The trial court and Bombay High Court had declined to quash the criminal cases registered by police under Section 306 for abetting the suicide, which entails a punishment of up to 10 years' imprisonment. The trio had then appealed in the apex court.

Justice Gavai said that to sustain a charge under Section 306 of the IPC, it is important to establish proof of direct or indirect acts of instigation or incitement of suicide by the accused, which must be close to the commission of suicide by the deceased. “Such instigation or incitement should reveal a clear mens rea (guilty mind) to abet the commission of suicide and should put the victim in such a position that he/she would have no other option but to commit suicide.”

The bench said that since each person reacts differently to the same provocation depending on a variety of factors, it is impossible to lay down a straightjacket formula to deal with such cases. “If the acts and deeds are only of such nature where the accused intended nothing more than harassment or a snap-show of anger, a particular case may fall short of the offence of abetment of suicide, however, if the accused kept on irritating or annoying the deceased by words or deeds until the deceased reacted or was provoked, a particular case may be that of abetment of suicide,” the bench said.