A man cannot be prosecuted for abetment to suicide if “his girlfriend” kills herself over his refusal to marry her, ruled the Bombay high court (HC).

“It is the choice of every person to marry with a particular person or not; and nobody can compel any person to perform marriage with any particular person,” said justice MG Giratkar, striking down the prosecution of 33-year-old Anil Gedam, a Nagpur resident, accused of allegedly driving his girlfriend to commit suicide.

“The accused refused to marry the deceased and that does not amount to any abetment,” Giratkar said. In 2015, the woman’s father had filed a complaint with the Nagpur police, alleging that Gedam was having an affair with his daughter, but had refused to marry her, and that led to his daughter committing suicide.

The Nagpur police had registered a case against Gedam under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Gedam approached the high court after an assistant sessions judge rejected his plea for discharge on July 22, 2016.

Gedam contended that, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the offence under Section 306 of the IPC was not made out against him, and hence he was entitled to be discharged.

However, an assistant public prosecutor said at least two witnesses had told police that the woman had expressed her concern about Gedam’s refusal to marry her and that was the reason which led her to commit suicide.

Justice Giratkar said it was for the “deceased to take an appropriate decision” after the 33-year-old had refused to marry her. He said the woman could have involved the elders of both families “to persuade the man of her love to marry her”.

Giratkar also said that “perhaps”, as submitted by Gedam’s lawyer, the deceased was hypersensitive and that might have been the reason for suicide, but that would not attract an offence under Section 306 of the IPC.

First Published: Mar 10, 2019 00:42 IST