<p>Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has directed the competent authority to initiate a departmental enquiry against the officer-in-charge of the Banaswadi police station in Bengaluru for filing a charge sheet for the offence of abetment to suicide in a case of attempted suicide. Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order while directing immediate release of the accused from the prison.</p><p>“The inquiry, now directed, shall not be a ritualistic exercise, but a meaningful examination into the disturbing casualness with which liberty was imperilled. A report of such action taken shall be placed before this Court, within three months,” Justice Nagaprasanna said in his order.</p><p>The petitioner Nixon Nanda, a resident of RS Palya in Bengaluru, married Priya in 2018. On October 21, 2025, at about 9 pm, pursuant to a squabble, Priya attempted suicide by jumping from the second floor of their house and sustained injuries. After being treated for injuries, Priya filed a complaint with the Banaswadi police.</p>.Incomplete charge sheet does not revive right to claim statutory bail: Karnataka High Court. <p>The police registered an FIR under Sections 108, 62, 85 and 352 of the<a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/bharatiya-nyaya-sanhita"> BNS</a>, the primary offence being Section 108 relating to abetment to suicide. The police arrested Nixon and remanded him to judicial custody.</p><p>The police further filed the charge sheet for all the offences alleged, including abetment to suicide. In the meantime, the couple reconciled and wished to settle the dispute and live together. Nixon moved the High Court after his bail application was rejected by the trial court.</p><p>After perusing the complaint and the chargesheet, Justice Nagaprasanna noted that it clearly depicted an act of recklessness on the part of the police. The court said that though the wife did attempt to commit suicide, there is no death in the case at hand for the police to invoke Section 108, which punishes whoever abets the commission of suicide.</p><p>“Yet, in an astonishing display of recklessness or prosecutional haste, the crime is registered for abetment to suicide, and a charge sheet is also filed against the petitioner for the offence of abetment of suicide, an offence whose very foundation is actual commission of suicide,” Justice Nagaprasanna said.</p><p>The court further said, “The criminal justice system cannot be permitted to be reduced to a frolicsome act of the investigating officer, where accusations are drafted upon whim and fancy. Liberty of a person cannot be sacrificed at the altar of negligence. The present case is not merely an error of judgment; it is a glaring manifestation of nonapplication of mind that has resulted in the incarceration of a citizen for half a year, for an offence that was legally non-existent. It is therefore imperative, that accountability must follow such abuse of authority.”<br></p>
<p>Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has directed the competent authority to initiate a departmental enquiry against the officer-in-charge of the Banaswadi police station in Bengaluru for filing a charge sheet for the offence of abetment to suicide in a case of attempted suicide. Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order while directing immediate release of the accused from the prison.</p><p>“The inquiry, now directed, shall not be a ritualistic exercise, but a meaningful examination into the disturbing casualness with which liberty was imperilled. A report of such action taken shall be placed before this Court, within three months,” Justice Nagaprasanna said in his order.</p><p>The petitioner Nixon Nanda, a resident of RS Palya in Bengaluru, married Priya in 2018. On October 21, 2025, at about 9 pm, pursuant to a squabble, Priya attempted suicide by jumping from the second floor of their house and sustained injuries. After being treated for injuries, Priya filed a complaint with the Banaswadi police.</p>.Incomplete charge sheet does not revive right to claim statutory bail: Karnataka High Court. <p>The police registered an FIR under Sections 108, 62, 85 and 352 of the<a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/bharatiya-nyaya-sanhita"> BNS</a>, the primary offence being Section 108 relating to abetment to suicide. The police arrested Nixon and remanded him to judicial custody.</p><p>The police further filed the charge sheet for all the offences alleged, including abetment to suicide. In the meantime, the couple reconciled and wished to settle the dispute and live together. Nixon moved the High Court after his bail application was rejected by the trial court.</p><p>After perusing the complaint and the chargesheet, Justice Nagaprasanna noted that it clearly depicted an act of recklessness on the part of the police. The court said that though the wife did attempt to commit suicide, there is no death in the case at hand for the police to invoke Section 108, which punishes whoever abets the commission of suicide.</p><p>“Yet, in an astonishing display of recklessness or prosecutional haste, the crime is registered for abetment to suicide, and a charge sheet is also filed against the petitioner for the offence of abetment of suicide, an offence whose very foundation is actual commission of suicide,” Justice Nagaprasanna said.</p><p>The court further said, “The criminal justice system cannot be permitted to be reduced to a frolicsome act of the investigating officer, where accusations are drafted upon whim and fancy. Liberty of a person cannot be sacrificed at the altar of negligence. The present case is not merely an error of judgment; it is a glaring manifestation of nonapplication of mind that has resulted in the incarceration of a citizen for half a year, for an offence that was legally non-existent. It is therefore imperative, that accountability must follow such abuse of authority.”<br></p>