COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION Vs. YOGESH SHARMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) I had in exercise of my powers u/s 482, C.P.C. directed that the various files of cases pending u/s IPC. 309 (attempt to commit suicide) in the trial Courts in Delhi, be summoned and placed before me for disposal. The files have been called by the Registry and placed before me. From the statement, I find that there are 120 cases pending in various trial Courts in Delhi, some pending since 1972.

(2.) Mr. Saini, Advocate, is present in Court. I have asked him to assist me in these matters. He appears amicus curiae. Notice had been issued to the State. Sodhi Teja Singh, Standing Counsel for the State, also appears for Delhi Administration.

(3.) A.D.B. of this Court in State v. Sanjay Kumar, 1985 Cri. L.J. 931, in dealing with a case u/s 309, Indian Penal Code . observed that the "continuance of Sec. 309 Indian Penal Code . is an anachronism unworthy of a humane society like ours." It also observed that there was no justification for a provision like Sec. 309 Indian Penal Code to be on the statute book. It seems paradoxical that a person who, if the prosecution is to be believed, is so unhappy that he makes an attempt to commit a suicide, should, if he fails in his attempt, instead of being attended to by the medical doctors and psychiatrists, be arrested and roughed through by the police and face criminal courts for all these years which will coarsen him further. The Bench in that case found that the law u/s 167, Criminal Procedure Code . had been wrongly applied, but did not send the case for retrial because it felt that there was no justification to subject the accused to any further misery at the hands of the Courts and, therefore, upheld the acquittal of the accused. That judgment was given on 29.3.85. It is true that Sec. 309, Indian Penal Code . still continues on the statute book and technically speakinp, the offence continues to be there and if the police send up a charge sheet u/s 308 IPC, the Courts cannot per se hold that a case has been sent up for an offence which is not a part of the statute. But 1 see no reason why the delay in repealing this provision which no longer finds place in almost all the civilised nations of the world should be applied so as to continue to add the backlogs to the already over worked courts. As it is there is enough of criminality in the society which keep the police, the prosecution and the courts busy for all the time and there is no reason to put more stress on these institutions than is absolutely necessary. I can only hope that this provision is removed from the statute book at the earliest. Personally speaking, I see no justification for the police to send up a case u/s 309 IPC. I would, in the circumstances, be inclined, as I do here intend, to quash all such cases pending in the lower courts u/s 309 IPC, without reference to any individual facts of each case. The reason is that there is a broad common pattern in all these prosecutions, namely, an unhappy person has tried to take his own life, even if the prosecution case is accepted in toto. I consider it perverse that such an unhappy person should be further dragged in courts and that his trauma should be lengthened. I am, however, mentioning facts of a few cases to show as to how there is not even a semblance of a justification for prosecution u/s 309 Indian Penal Code and yet the proceedings are dragging on for years just because neither the police nor, unfortunately, the trial courts seem to look at this matter with a humane eye.