Lovepreet Kaur vs State of Punjab

Tejinder Singh Dhindsa, J.—This order shall dispose of the present petition filed u/s 439 Cr. P.C., praying for regular bail to the petitioner in case FIR No. 3 dated 05.01.2014 registered u/s 306/34 of IPC at Police Station Fatehgarh Sahib, Distt. Fatehgarh Sahib.

Allegations against the present petitioner in the FIR, are that she along with other co-accused abetted the commission of suicide of deceased Jasbir Singh. As per prosecution version present petitioner was married to deceased Jasbir Singh and after marriage, Jasbir Singh and the present petitioner had proceeded to Australia but after about 7 months, the petitioner on her own will and accord had left her husband and came back to her parental house. Still further, in the entire FIR, there are general allegations against the present petitioner as also the co-accused of having harassed the deceased Jasbir Singh.

Counsel for the parties have been heard.

It is by now well settled that in a case of alleged abetment of suicide, there must be proof of direct or indirect acts of incitement to the commission of suicide. The Hon''ble Supreme Court in Chitresh Kumar Chopra Vs. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi), had categorically observed that for offence u/s 306 of the Indian Penal Code to be made out, there has to be a clear mens rea to commit the offence. It also requires an active act or direct act which led to the deceased to commit suicide seeing no option and that act must have been intended to push the deceased into such a position that he committed suicide.

The issue as to whether an offence u/s 306 of the Indian Penal Code would be made out against the present petitioner would be a moot point to be adjudicated upon during the course of trial.

It has gone undisputed that the petitioner has been in custody since 06.01.2014. Investigation in the case is complete and even the challan has been presented on 06.03.2014.

It has also not been rebutted that co-accused, namely, Hardeep Singh and also Manjit Singh have been granted the benefit of regular bail by this Court in CRM-M-10360 of 2014 and CRM-M-9667 of 2014, respectively.

Learned State Counsel, upon instructions from ASI Sandher Pal Singh, would apprise the Court that out of a total of 24 prosecution witnesses cited, only one has been examined till date. The trial, as such, is at the initial stage.

As such, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the petitioner is held entitled to the relief of bail.

Petition is allowed.

Bail to the satisfaction of trial Court/Duty Magistrate, Fatehgarh Sahib.

Disposed of.