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M. Arjunan v. The State rep. by its Inspector of Police

Criminal Appeal · 2018 INSC 1150Decided 4 Dec 2018
Criminal Appeal No. 1550 of 2018
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice Indira Banerjee

Background

The appellant had lent Rs. 80,000 to a man who later could not repay the debt despite repeated demands for repayment of principal and interest. The borrower died by suicide, leaving a note describing his financial difficulties and inability to repay the loan. The trial court convicted the appellant-lender of abetment of suicide under Section 306 IPC, and the Madras High Court upheld the conviction while reducing the sentence from three years to three months.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the suicide note and the oral evidence of the deceased's family and found that, while they showed the deceased was under financial pressure and may have been spoken to abusively about repayment, nothing in the evidence showed the appellant had instigated or intended to drive the deceased to suicide. The Court reiterated that abetment of suicide requires proof of actual instigation or intention to abet, and that merely using harsh or abusive language while demanding repayment of a genuine debt does not, by itself, meet that standard. Finding the essential ingredients of Section 306 IPC unproved, the Court set aside the conviction and allowed the appeal, acquitting the appellant.

Lesson Learnt

A creditor who presses a debtor for repayment, even using harsh words, cannot be convicted of abetting that debtor's suicide unless there is clear evidence of intentional instigation, demanding repayment of a lawful debt is not, on its own, a crime.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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