High Court Kerala granted bail for a police constable accused of abetting suicide under IPC 306/498A, holding custodial interrogation unnecessary pending conditionals requiring personal appearance and no witness tampering.
Granted bail with conditions to appear for interrogation and refrain from influencing witnesses.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ALEXANDER THOMAS
THURSDAY, THE 17TH DAY OF OCTOBER 2019 / 25TH ASWINA, 1941
Bail Appl..No.5401 OF 2019
AGAINST THE ORDER/JUDGMENT IN CRMP 1975/2019 DATED 11-07-2019 OF SESSIONS COURT, KOTTAYAM
CRIME NO.750/2019 OF THALAYOLAPARAMBU POLICE STATION, KOTTAYAM
APPLICANT/ACCUSED:
ABHIJITH, AGED 31 YEARS S/O. SATHEESAN, THUNDATHIL, THALAYOLAPARAMBU, POTTENCHIRA KIZHAKKUMBAHAGAM KARA, VADAYAR VILLAGE.
BY ADVS. SRI.P.VIJAYA BHANU (SR.) SRI.A.KRISHNAN
RESPONDENT/COMPLAINANT:
STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM 682 031.
SRI.SAIGI JACOB PALATTY, PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
THIS BAIL APPLICATION HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 17.10.2019, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING:
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ALEXANDER THOMAS, J.
=========================== B.A No.5401 of 2019
=========================== Dated this the 17th day of October, 2019
ORDER
The subject crime in this case is Crime No.750/2019 of Thalayolaparambu Police Station, which has been registered initially under Sec.57 of the Kerala Police Act, 2011 on account of the unnatural death/suicide of the lady victim in this case, who is the wife of the petitioner herein. The police after investigation has later altered the offence to those as per Sec.498A and Sec.306 of the Indian Penal Code and the petitioner herein has been arrayed as the sole accused therein.
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that during the altercation, the petitioner had assaulted her. It appears that a two year girl child, who was born to her out of the marital relationship with the petitioner and on the day in question, the lady had jumped from the bridge into the river, along with the child and the child has also died in the process. The police had also initially included the offence as per Sec.302 of the IPC on the premise that the lady by the act of jumping into the river along with the child has caused the death of the child, etc. Later since the lady is now no more, the police has deleted the offence as per Sec.302 of the IPC.
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SCALE 414], Harikrishnan & Anr. v. State of Kerala and Anr. [2019 (3) KHC 437] & M.Arjunan v. State represented by its Inspector of Police [2019(3) SCC 315]. On the basis of the abovesaid cited rulings, the learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner/accused has urged that none of the vital parameters and ingredients of the abovesaid offences are made out even going by the admitted allegations in the instant case. Further, the learned senior counsel has also pointedly taken this Court’s attention that the petitioner’s deceased wife was suffering from hypothyroidism, as evident from Annexure-C Medical Certificate dated 12.07.2019 issued by the Chief Physician of the hospital concerned, where she was taking treatment and has also taken this Court’s attention to various aspects on the authoritative textbook on medicine viz., DAVIDSON's Principle of Practice of Medicine, Seventeenth Edition at page No.693 thereof, wherein the following aspects are stated :
“the Clinical Features of Hypothyroidism in General are Weight Gain (Depression); Cold Intolerance (absolute intolerance); Hoarseness (rough and deep sounding - uttering die/kill etc.). The above features are described thus, “A consequence of prolonged Hypothyroidism is the infiltration of many body tissues by the mucopolysaccharides, hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulphate, resulting in a low-pitched voice, poor hearing slurred speech due to a large tongue and compression of the median nerve at wrist. Most cases of Hypothyroidism are not so obvious, however, and unless the diagnosis is positively entertained in a middle-aged woman
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complaining of symptoms such as tiredness, wieght gain or depression, or with carpal tunnel syndrome, an opportunity for early treatment will be missed”
No.1000 of the abovesaid textbook on medicine, which deals with affective disorders, wherein it is stated as follows :
“Depression, or less often mania, can be the presenting feature of cerebrovascular disease, neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinsonism and endocrine diseases such as Cuhing's sybdrine, Addison's disease and hypothyroidism. Mood change can also be associated with drug therapy, for example coericosteroids, beta-adrenoceptor antagonists and other antihypertensive drugs (eg:alpha-methyl dopa). When mood disorders result directly from physical causes such as these they are know as organic affective disorders.”
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over the bridge into the river in the process of committing suicide and those injuries noted therein could have also caused due to her hand rubbing against the bridge railings, as she had strapped the child within her hands and had fallen out from the bridge, etc.
1. The petitioner will immediately personally appear before the Investigating Officer (I.O) in relation to the instant Crime, for interrogation purposes, without any further delay, at any rate, by 9 a.m. on any day on or before 30.10.2019 or within such time limit that may be extended by the I.O as he deems fit and proper.
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2. The petitioner will fully co-operate with the Investigating Officer in the above said interrogation process.
3. After the interrogation process is over, in case, the investigating officer arrests the petitioner in relation to the above said crime, he shall be released on bail on his executing bond for Rs.40,000/- (Rupees Forty Thousand only) and on his furnishing two solvent sureties for the like sum, both to the satisfaction of the Investigating Officer concerned.
to the following conditions:
petitioner then the competent court below concerned stands hereby authorised, to take up the plea for cancellation of bail at the appropriate time.
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With these observations and directions, the above Bail Application
will stand disposed of.
Sd/-
ALEXANDER THOMAS JUDGE
vgd
2 issues framed by the court
Whether anticipatory bail should be granted based on insufficient evidence for abetment to suicide under Section 306 IPC.
Whether the accused's medical history of hypothyroidism negates the possibility of Harassment leading to suicide.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Sanju @ Sanjay Singh Sengar v. State of M.P.Referred¶26
_Sanju @ Sanjay Singh Sengar v. State of M.P._ [2002 SCC (Crl.) 1141] · Who else cites this
Krishnadas v. State of KeralaReferred¶26
_Krishnadas v. State of Kerala_ [2017 (2) KLT 579]
Gurucharan Singh v. State of PunjabReferred¶26
_Gurucharan Singh v. State of Punjab_ [2016 (12) SCALE 414]
Harikrishnan & Anr. v. State of Kerala and Anr.Referred¶26
_Harikrishnan & Anr. v. State of Kerala and Anr._ [2019 (3) KHC 437]
M.Arjunan v. State represented by its Inspector of PoliceReferred¶26
_M.Arjunan v. State represented by its Inspector of Police_ [2019(3) SCC 315] · Who else cites this
2 provisions across 1 enactments
ABHIJITH
STATE OF KERALA
ALEXANDER THOMAS
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
