RADHIKA KAPAHTIA Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner is indicted for abetment of suicide of her husband under Sec. 306 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ( for short 'the IPC'). She seeks to quash the criminal proceedings against her through this petition under Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

(2.) Petitioner and her husband were both specialist doctors working at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital in Kochi. Petitioner's husband committed suicide on 11/9/2018 by injecting poison. Marital discord is alleged to be the reason for the husband taking the extreme step.

(3.) Initially, a crime was registered under Sec. 174 Cr.P.C. for unnatural death, and subsequently, the provision of law was altered to Sec. 306 IPC and the petitioner was arrayed as the accused for abetment of suicide. In the final report filed on 15/6/2020, it was alleged that, after their marriage, the wife happened to see certain intimate videos of her husband with his former girlfriend, leading to marital discord between the couple. The bickerings and quarrels had a heavy toll on the emotional balance of the husband, resulting in his suicide after leaving two suicide notes. It is alleged that the accused repeatedly harassed her husband and spoke ill about the family of the deceased, thereby abetting the commission of suicide.