Johnsi Davis vs State Of Kerala

G. Girish, J

The petitioners are accused Nos.2 to 6 in S.C.No.339/2019 on the files of Assistant Sessions Court, Irinjalakuda. They face prosecution for the commission of offence under Section 306 I.P.C in connection with the suicide of a person by name Joseph Master, a retired Teacher who had won the State award for the Best Teacher for the year 2004-2005, who was working as a Manager of the Chitty Company run by the first accused as Managing Director, second and third accused as staff members and the other accused as board members.

The prosecution case is that deceased Joseph Master was subjected to severe humiliation by the petitioners and the first accused since he brought to light serious financial irregularities perpetrated by the first accused in the chitty company. It is stated that the deceased was removed from the post of Manager and his salary was withheld. In addition to the above acts, the petitioners and the first accused are alleged to have depicted the deceased as a womaniser in front of his relatives and the local people. Unable to bear the above mental torture, the victim is said to have doused himself with petrol and set ablaze at the veranda of the office where he worked at about 4:30 p.m on 07.10.2016. The dying declaration of the deceased was recorded by the Magistrate at Jubilee Mission Medical College, Thrissur before he succumbed to the burns in the early morning of 08.10.2016. Thus, the petitioners and the first accused are alleged to have abetted the suicide of deceased Joseph Master.

Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Public Prosecutor representing the State of Kerala.

The petitioners would contend that the deceased behaved indifferently to the Managing Director and Directors of the Chitty Company and hence the Director Board members had decided to remove the deceased from the post of Manager. It is also stated that the deceased was on leave for a period of one month prior to the Annual General Body Meeting of the Chitty Company, and that he was in such a mood that he isolated himself from the Directors and staff. According to the petitioners, the reason why the deceased committed suicide is not known to anybody. It is the further contention of the petitioners that the decision to change the deceased from the post of Manager was a unanimous decision of the Director Board, and that the deceased was bound to abide by the above decision.

As already stated above, the dying declaration of deceased Joseph Master was recorded by the Magistrate at 11:45 p.m on 07.10.2016. In the above dying declaration, the deceased had stated that he was subjected to severe humiliation by the first accused and his men since he exposed the misappropriation of money made by the first accused. It is also stated by the deceased that the Board Members of the Chitty Company did not disburse his travel expenses and salary and thus humiliated him. The deceased further stated that he was threatened of denigration by attributing illicit relationship with a lady staff of the office. Furthermore, it is stated in the above dying declaration that though waited till 5:00 p.m, he was not paid his salary. The above indications in the dying declaration of the deceased point to the specific acts of that the petitioners and the first accused which amounted to instigation for suicide. That apart, it could be seen from the copy of the final report that the witnesses cited as CWs 1 to 5, CWs 7 to 9, CWs 16 to 18, CW20 and CWs 22 to 24 are projected by the prosecution as persons who were having direct knowledge regarding the severe mental humiliation perpetrated by the petitioners and the first accused leading to the suicide of Joseph Master. Among the above witnesses, CW20, the son of the deceased is sought to be examined by the prosecution to prove the fact that the deceased had spoken to him about the mental harassment of the petitioners and the first accused which compelled him to make the suicide attempt. Thus, the final report filed in this case contain clear indications about the evidence proposed to be adduced by the prosecution for establishing the allegation that accused Nos.1 to 6 arraigned thereunder had abetted the suicide of the victim. That being so, it is not possible for this Court to stifle the prosecution at the very inception by invoking the inherent powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. It is well settled that the powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C shall not be resorted to in a casual manner when the allegations in the complaint or the final report make out a case for proceeding against the offenders. It has been held by the Apex Court in State v. Navjot Sandhu [(2003) 6 SCC 641] that the inherent powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C shall be used only in cases where there is an abuse of process of court or where interference is absolutely necessary for securing the ends of justice. As far as the present case is concerned, it is not possible to conclude that there is any abuse of process of court or other compelling reason warranting the interference of this Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C to secure the ends of justice. Therefore, the prayer in this petition cannot be allowed.

In the result, the petition is hereby dismissed. However, it is made clear that if the petitioners raise a plea of discharge before the Trial Court, it shall be decided on merit untrammelled by any of the observations in this order. So also, the Trial Court shall consider the feasibility of permitting appearance of the petitioners through counsel, till the plea of discharge is decided on merit.