High Court quashes suicide abetment case against In-laws

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court has quashed the abetment to suicide case against Kaduba Harde and his son Chaitanya, in-laws of deceased Dnyaneshwar Dahidar. The bench of Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Sanjay Deshmukh ruled that the ingredients required BNS under Section 306 were not proved, and forcing the accused to stand trial would amount to misuse of law.

The case dates back to April 16, 2020, when Dnyaneshwar allegedly set himself ablaze outside his in-laws’ house in Gangapur after his wife refused to return with him and reportedly told him to “go and die.” His brother later lodged a police complaint, leading to charges against his father-in-law and brother-in-law. Through advocate Ravindra V. Gore, the accused filed a criminal application in the High Court seeking quashing of the FIR and chargesheet.

No sufficient evidence

During the hearing, Advocate Gore cited Supreme Court judgments in M. Mohan and Sanju alias Sanjay Singh cases, stressing that in abetment to suicide matters, it must be clearly established that the accused instigated the deceased. In this case, no such evidence was available. Supporting counsels included Advocates Adil Shaikh, Shubham Shinde, Aadesh Ban, Sharayu Darunte, Aishwarya Tanpure, and Audumbar Shinde. The ruling has brought relief to the accused family, while also raising questions among locals about the threshold of evidence in sensitive suicide cases.