Taking in view woman's letter describing her husband as a 'sexual pervert', cannot be termed as an evidence for abetment of her suicide, the Supreme Court has acquitted the husband accused of forcing her and their two children to end their lives. The convict Sohan Raj Sharma was convicted to seven years imprisonment by a sessions court in Haryana after convicting him under Section 306 IPC (abetment) for the suicide of his wife Jyoti along with their daughters Pinki and Guidya.The conviction was based on a letter purportedly written by Jyoti in which she alleged that she was committing suicide as she was unable to bear the torture meted out to her by him, whom she alleged was a "sexual pervert".Sharma's plea that Jyoti was a lesbian was rejected by the by the sessions court and the HC which later confirmed his conviction and sentence. Following this he appealed in the apex court.After perusal of various records, the apex court Bench ofJustices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam citing its earlier judgement in the Mahinder Singh Vs State of MP case (1995) said in cases of alleged abetment of suicide there must be a proof of direct or indirect acts of incitement to the commission of suicide.The mere fact that the husband treated the deceased wife with cruelty is not enough, the apex court said.
