SHANTI DEVI SHARMA Vs. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) It is one of the most unfortunate cases where an old widowed mother has to sacrifice her son because of mis-behaviour and humiliation caused to her son which led him to commit suicide by hanging on 21.10.2005. Mr. Himanshu Dev Sharma aged 34 years was her son. He was earning his livelihood by running a fast food centre at Nehru Nagar, near Sri Niwas Puri, nearby his house. He had borrowed vehicle loan to purchase a motor cycle from the ICICI Bank on 07.06.2005. The ICICI people started visiting the house of the deceased Himanshu Dev Sharma as well as the place of his business to demand installments of loan and on 16.10.2005 the vehicle for which loan was taken was repossessed by the musclemen employed by the ICICI Bank. Thereafter, the deceased wife approached the Bank (ICICI) and requested that she be allowed to pay installments in default but the Bank instead of accepting the installments from her rebuked and insulted her.

(2.) On the fateful day i.e. on 21.10.2005 as deceased was deprived of the vehicle arranged by him through loan, he had to carry a gunny bag containing vegetables weighing 20 Kgs on his back for which he was humiliated by the people of the locality through which he passed. When he returned home on that day, he even could not face his own wife and while his mother was not there, he went inside another room of his house and committed suicide by hanging.

(3.) The learned standing counsel for the State has taken me through the contents of the complaint lodged by the petitioner who is deceased mother with the Police line by line and word by word. A perusal of the said complaint which is at pages 15 to 18 of the paper book would reveal that the proximate cause of death of the deceased that led him to commit suicide was on account of humiliation caused by the Bank people from where loan was taken by him.