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‘Victim is alive, where is suicide?’: Karnataka HC orders release of man jailed for ‘abetting’ wife’s death
The accused was in jail for the last 6 months over an abetment to suicide charge.
File photo of the Karnataka High Court.
The Karnataka High Court Friday quashed legal proceedings against a man accused of abetting his wife’s suicide after the ‘victim’ turned up during the hearing and informed the court that she had resolved differences with her husband and they would like to cohabit.
“Victim is by the side, where is suicide?” Justice M Nagaprasanna remarked and directed prison authorities to release the man, who had been in jail for the last six months.
Justice Nagaprasanna also remarked on the conduct of the police officers who filed the offence and chargesheet without verifying the facts. “This reflects a very sorry state of affairs and reckless filing of a chargesheet when the victim is healthy and standing in front of the court,” the judge said.
The court also ordered a departmental inquiry against the officers of the local Banaswadi police station in Bengaluru for filing a chargesheet under Section 108 (abetment to suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“The officer in charge of the Banaswadi police station, who has, without looking into the facts, registered a crime and even filed a chargesheet, cannot be let go scot free. His action resulted in the husband being in prison for six months. The authorities should take stringent action against such officer/officers in charge of the police station who filed a chargesheet sitting in the chamber at their whims and fancies,” the court observed.
The court asked the police department to submit the inquiry report within three months.
The chargesheet mentioned that the couple had a love marriage in 2018. However, the relationship began to strain after they failed to conceive, even after several years of marriage.
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It was alleged that on October 20, 2025, the man quarreled with his wife, physically assaulted her, and asked her to “go and die”. Thereafter, the woman is said to have jumped from the second floor of their house and sustained fractures to her spinal cord and both legs.
As per the chargesheet filed by the police, the man continuously subjected the wife to physical and mental cruelty, abusing her and assaulting her by provoking her to die.
The man approached the Karnataka High Court seeking to quash the offence and chargesheet.
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