A harsh punishment is not justified for one held guilty of making a suicide bid out of penury and destitution, a Delhi court has ruled.
Additional Sessions Judge Ramesh Kumar gave the ruling while letting off a man, convicted for attempting suicide by consuming sedatives.
The court let him off after detaining him in the court room itself for a day after convicting him.
The court also acquitted him of the charges of trying to kill his wife and five daughters, out of poverty and helplessness, after giving them sedatives-laced cola to drink.
One convicted for making a suicide bid is liable to be jailed up to a year, besides being fined.
"Attempt to commit suicide are made due to extreme poverty and helplessness. There is no justification for imposing severe punishment upon such convicts," said ASJ Kumar, while sentencing North West Delhi resident Satish Jain to "imprisonment till the rising of the court."
Jain was given the lenient sentence after he pleaded guilty of attempting to commit suicide out of penury.
"The case like the present one in which the accused attempted to commit suicide due to poverty, helplessness, economic conditions and other pressing circumstances should be taken liberally and lesser sentence should be awarded to them," ASJ Kumar said.
The court noted that Jain had taken the drastic step due to abject poverty, debts and difficulty in maintaining a family comprising his wife and their five daughters. He had also undergone a by-pass surgery.
Jain was also acquitted of the charge of attempting to murder his wife and daughters aged between 6 and 16 by serving them soft-drink laced with poison.
The prosecution case was that on March 17, 2011, Jain had administered soft drinks laced with Diazepam to his wife and daughter with an intention to murder them and himself also consumed the same.
The family of seven was found unconscious when a friend of one of the girls visited their house and found it locked from inside, after which the police was alerted.
His wife and daughters told the court that they had themselves purchased cola from the market and upon consuming it, they fell unconscious and found themselves in the hospital when they regained senses.
ASJ Kumar noted that the Jain's wife and daughters were the material witnesses but have not deposed "a single word against him."