11 years after acquittal by trial court, HC sends man to jail for abetment of suicide

Aman was acquitted by a trial court in 2011 for offenses including abetment of suicide has been found guilty by the Karnataka High Court, which has sentenced him to seven years imprisonment, 11 years later.

Shantha aka Shanthasetty was acquitted by a Fast Track Court in Kollegala in 2011 for offenses of abetment of suicide, intentional insult, voluntarily causing hurt, outraging the modesty of a woman and wrongful restraint. His quarrel with a woman in the village had forced her to take the extreme step on June 12, 2008.

The High Court on May 5, 2022 found that the lower court had based its judgment of acquittal on a hyper-technical essentiality of a doctor’s certificate for the fit condition of the victim to give a dying declaration. “The Trial Court failed to consider the Hon’ble Supreme Court wherein Their Lordships have opined that, the endorsement of the Doctor is not required if a person who recorded the dying declaration and the Doctor who treated the victim both have stated on oath that the deceased was fit to make statement,” the High Court said while setting aside the acquittal. The High Court judgement delivered by Justice S Rachaiah also says that the Trial Court also failed to appreciate the independent witnesses in the case.

The HC sentenced Shanthasetty to seven years simple imprisonment for abetment of suicide, one year imprisonment for intentional insult, one year imprisonment for voluntarily causing hurt, four years imprisonment for outraging the modesty of a woman and four months imprisonment for wrongful restraint. “All sentences shall run concurrently,” the court said.

The victim and Shanthasetty are from Kunthurmole village in Kollegal. The victim had earlier quarreled with Shanthasetty’s wife. Shanthasetty picked up a fight with the victim over this issue. He dragged the woman by her nighty and caught her tuft and assaulted and abused her.

Insulted, the woman set herself on fire. The victim’s husband who was nearby heard the quarrel, rushed to the spot and with help of villagers shifted her to a hospital. She succumbed to the injuries on June 17, 2008.

The victim wanted to make a statement before dying. A head constable recorded her statement and registered a case. The doctor treating her was a witness to the dying declaration. Subsequently a charge sheet was filed against Shanthasetty under several Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including 306 (Abetment of suicide) .