Karnataka High Court refuses to quash abetment to suicide case against husband

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash proceedings against a petitioner for abetment to suicide and cruelty. The petitioner’s wife had made a video, explaining about her husbands’ extra marital affair and died by suicide.

The petitioner - accused Mayukh Mukherjee, a resident of Panathur, had married the deceased Piyali Mukherjee on February 2, 2021. His wife had ended life by hanging on February 24, 2023. Piyali’s father Probab Kumar Sharma, a resident of Karimganj district in Assam, registered a complaint with the Marathahalli police and a charge sheet was also filed under IPC sections 306 and 498A against Mayukh.

The petitioner contended that Piyali was suffering from depression. He further stated that even the video transcript clearly indicates that she was not blaming anyone in the family.

On the other hand, the complainant, father of the deceased, argued that transcript of the audio and certain writings in the diary reveal torture and him having extra-marital affair.

Justice M Nagaprasanna noted it is not that there was no instigation or no goading. “In the life of husband and wife it cannot be said that there should be minimum proximity. The wife being driven to the wall to an extent of commission of suicide cannot happen at the spur of the moment. It is a collection of agony that has resulted in the fateful incident. It is akin to the explosion of a dormant volcano,” Justice Nagaprasanna said.

The court further said that the video and writings show that there is prima facie material. “Instigation or otherwise of a husband for commission of suicide of the wife can only be deciphered in a full blown trial; it would undoubtedly require evidence, as the truth between the husband and the wife will not come out in a petition under Section 482 of the CrPC unless there is a trial conducted,” the court said.