No ‘guilty mind’, no crime: Why Gujarat High Court quashed this dowry suicide case
The Gujarat High Court noted that the deceased had been battling psychotic depression since 2013, long before her marriage and attempted suicide on previous occasions.
Holding that “mens rea (guilty mind) to instigate” is a must in cases of abetment to suicide, the Gujarat High Court recently quashed and set aside an FIR of dowry harassment in the case of the suicide of a Surat-based woman against her husband and his family.
The court considered that the parents of the deceased woman had admitted that she had been diagnosed with “psychotic depression” since before her marriage and had attempted suicide on previous occasions due to her mental health.
Justice V K Vyas of the Gujarat High Court was hearing an application filed by the husband and in-laws of the deceased woman, imploring the court to quash and set aside the 2024 FIR lodged at Katargam police station for abetment to suicide and dowry harassment, among other sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Dowry Prohibition Act.
Advocate Medha Pandya, appearing for the applicants, had submitted to the court that the parents of the deceased woman and the accused-applicants had arrived at a settlement and that the mother of the deceased had also filed an affidavit in support of the submissions made by the applicants.
The common oral order of the court, pronounced earlier in January this year, stated, “It is settled that to attract Section 107 of the IPC, the accused must have mens rea to instigate the deceased to commit suicide. The act of instigation must be of such intensity that it is intended to push the deceased to such a position under which he or she has no choice but to commit suicide. Such instigation must be in proximity to the act of committing suicide.”
The court noted the submissions of the applicant-accused, stating, “…it prima facie appears that the deceased was suffering from mental illness and was undertaking treatment since 2013 (i.e. before her marriage…). Further, it appears from the medical evidence on record as well as the statements of the parents of the deceased recorded by the police and the affidavits filed by them, that the deceased was having a tendency to commit suicide, due to which, she had even tried to commit suicide either by consuming poisonous liquid or jumping into the river…”
The court also considered the submissions that both parents of the deceased had “admitted that even before her marriage, the deceased had attempted to commit suicide twice…” and the mother of the deceased filed an affidavit dated December 22, 2025, stating that they did not want to continue with the FIR.
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The court also noted that there was “no evidence on record to suggest as to what had happened soon before the incident” as the deceased had been living at her parental house in the preceding ten months due to a discord with her husband and had taken the extreme step at her parental home and her parents had “not supported the version narrated by the deceased” in the FIR.
Background
As per the now quashed FIR, the marriage of the deceased woman and her husband was solemnised in November 2021 and “soon after the marriage, the present applicants-accused used to taunt the deceased regarding her medical expenditure and were demanding dowry, therefore, the deceased had once consumed poisonous liquid”.
The applicants had also informed the court that, following the intervention of some “members of the society”, the woman had returned to her matrimonial home, and the couple had welcomed a son, now aged 1.5 years.
On January 19, 2024, the woman had consumed acid at her parental home, where she had been residing for over ten months after a discord with her husband and in-laws. The deceased had succumbed on January 22 at a hospital in Surat, where she was undergoing treatment.
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Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues.
Expertise:
Core Authority & Specialization: Her reporting is characterized by a comprehensive grasp of the complex factors shaping Central Gujarat, which comprises a vast tribal population, including:
Politics and Administration: In-depth analysis of dynamics within factions of political parties and how it affects the affairs in the region, visits of national leaders making prominent statements, and government policy decisions impacting the population on ground.
Crucial Regional Projects: She consistently reports on the socio-economic and political impact of infrastructure projects in the region, especially the Statue of Unity, the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada River, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail bullet train project as well as the National Highway infrastructure.
Social Justice and Human Rights: Her reporting offers deep coverage of sensitive human-interest topics, including gender, crime, and tribal issues. Her reports cover legal proceedings from various district courts as well as the Gujarat High Court (e.g., the Bilkis Bano case remission, POCSO court orders, Public Interest Litigations), the plight of tribal communities, and broader social conflicts (e.g., Kheda flogging case).
Local Impact & Disaster Reporting: Excels in documenting the immediate impact of events on communities, such as the political and civic fallout of the Vadodara floods, the subsequent public anger, and the long-delayed river redevelopment projects, Harni Boat Tragedy, Air India crash, bringing out a blend of stories from the investigations as well as human emotions.
Special Interest Beat: She tracks incidents concerning Non-Resident Gujaratis (NRIs) including crime and legal battles abroad, issues of illegal immigration and deportations, as well as social events connecting the local Gujarati experience to the global diaspora. ... Read More
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