Mere break-up not enough ground for abetment to suicide, says Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has said that simply ending a relationship may not constitute incitement for a charge of abetment of suicide according to criminal law.

The observation was made by Justice Manoj Jain while addressing a bail application submitted by a man accused of facilitating the suicide of his ex-partner, who took her own life five days after his marriage to another woman.

Also read: 8,630 complaints against Indian judges in 10 years, outcomes undisclosed

The court, which granted bail to the accused, said that the instigation should be of such a nature that leaves the deceased with little option other than taking the drastic step.

'Account of her being hyper-sensitive girl'

According to the court, only a trial would establish whether the “extreme step” taken by the deceased was on account of provocation, instigation, “merely on account of her being hyper-sensitive girl” or for some other reason.

Speaking about the present case, the high court said there was no dying declaration, the parties were in a relationship for around years, and there was no complaint from the late woman during that period. It added that there was a significant interval between the time when the parties ceased communication and the date of the suicide.

Also read: When Supreme Court had to remind India that women own their bodies

“Apparently, it seems to be a case of a broken relationship and quite possibly, the deceased, having come to know that the applicant has got married to someone else, has chosen to finish herself,” the court said in the order passed on Tuesday (February 24).

“Though broken relationship and heartbreaks have become common these days, mere breaking-up of relationship may not per se constitute instigation so as to make it to be a case of abetment under Section 108 BNS (abetment of suicide),” the court order read.

Accused, deceased's family blame each other

The father of the deceased had alleged that the accused had trapped his daughter and pressured her to convert to his religion to marry him, and it was under such pressure that she had hanged herself last October.

The accused was arrested in November.

The court observed that, according to the woman's friends, she was upset, and they never claimed anything on conversion. The accused had stopped talking to her from February 2025 onwards, it said.

Also read: How the Official Secrets Act has become a colonial relic in the AI age

According to the court’s order, the accused man was let out on bail on a personal bond and surety bond of Rs 25,000 each. He counter-alleged that the woman’s parents objected to their relationship since they belonged to different religions and that she was forced to end the relationship under their pressure.

(With agency inputs)