Can 'tum-tam' or 'tere-mere' amount to suicide abetment? Jharkhand HC says no

NEW DELHI: The Jharkhand high court has quashed an FIR against a Block Development Officer (BDO) accused of abetting the suicide of a Panchayat Secretary, holding that merely addressing the deceased as "tum-tam" or "tere-mere" cannot amount to instigation to commit suicide.A single judge bench of Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary said that even if all the allegations in the FIR were accepted as true, they will still not be enough to prove abetment under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).What was the issue?The case arose after the suicide of a Panchayat Secretary. It was alleged that the then BDO had humiliated him by addressing him disrespectfully as "tum-tam" and "tere-mere". Based on this, police registered an FIR under Sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 61 (criminal conspiracy), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) of the BNS, as per the court order.The BDO approached the high court seeking to quash the FIR. She argued that even if every allegation was accepted, there was no material to show that she had instigated or encouraged the deceased to take his own life.She further relied on Supreme Court judgments which state that abetment of suicide requires a positive act of instigation and a clear link between the accused's conduct and the suicide.The state also informed the court that statements of Panchayat Secretaries present during the meeting did not support the allegation that the BDO had insulted the deceased.

What did the high court say?The high court noted that for the offence of abetment of suicide, there must be a clear act of instigation. Referring to Supreme Court precedents, it observed that "instigation" means to "goad, urge forward, provoke, incite or encourage" a person to commit an act, and there must be a reasonable certainty that the accused's conduct would lead to the consequence.Citing a Supreme Court ruling, the court noted that a mere reprimand or "a word in a fit of anger will not earn the status of abetment", and that harassment allegations alone, without a positive act close to the time of the suicide, cannot sustain a conviction for abetment.The court further noted that the only allegation against the BDO was that she had used the expressions "tum-tam" and "tere-mere". It also pointed out that witnesses examined during the investigation did not support even this allegation."Merely using the words 'Tum Tam' and 'Tere Mere' to the Panchayat Secretary by the Block Development Officer cannot be termed as instigation to commit suicide," the court said.It held that the allegations also failed to make out offences of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, criminal intimidation or intentional insult under the BNS, as the essential ingredients of those offences were absent.The high court said allowing the criminal case to continue would be an abuse of the legal process. It therefore quashed the FIR and all related proceedings against the BDO.