To be very frank, no one in India is clear about what is abetment to suicide.
There are judgements and judgements, but no judge, no lawyer, no one can explain you the real law in two minutes.
And yet, thousands are languishing in jail because law relating to abetment of suicide is not very clearly defined or applied.
ABETMENT:-
If you help someone in committing a crime, you have abetted crime. Suicide is a crime. Anyone who helps anyone in committing a suicide has abetted it.
It looks simple. But it has been made complicated.
FIRST WRONG TURN
There were suicides of newly married brides. No one knew how to solve this social problem. They thought that if law is passed, suicides will decrease.
So they passed law that if Suicide takes place, husband and his relatives will be presumed to have abetted suicide.
Burden will be on them to prove that they have not abetted suicide....
How can they prove what is negative... No one knows. Laws are silent.
I do not know whether suicides have decreased. But I see that lots of husband and relatives go to jail because they fail in court to prove that they DID NOT abet suicide.
The Legal Eagles
The legal eagles, who may read this, may say that I have over generalised issue. And the things are not as bad as I say. The Supreme Court has said .... Etc etc.
They may be right. And I may be wrong.
My view is simply this: This is a very loosely drafted law. Clarity is missing. Ingredients of crime which are capable of being proved or disproved are not clear.
What rebuttal evidence need to be led by husband and his relatives is not clear.
But let us say, this is my wrong view about law relating to abetment of Suicide.
Haresh Raichura
12/6/13 11:40
