Is Refusal to Marry Suicide Incitement? Supreme Court Weighs In on Key Ruling

A vital judgment was delivered by the Supreme Court on Friday ruling that refusal to marry, or breaking up with the partner, cannot be classed as incitement to suicide. The court said that although emotional breakdown is possible after a separation or rejection, it is far from being enough to pass the responsibility of another individual's decision to end up taking his life.

This judgment has arisen from a case presented by Karnataka, wherein the High Court had convicted one person for abetment of suicide and sentenced him for five years with fine. The case was on a tragic incident in the year 2007 where a 21-year-old girl hanged herself after her lover, Kamruddin, refused to marry her despite being in a relation with her for eight years.

The woman's mother lodged an FIR against Kamruddin, alleging his cheating by her (section 417) and helping her cause the death of her daughter (section 306). The trial court acquitted him, but he was acquitted by the high court to be convicted of an abettor to a suicide.

The Supreme Court, having Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Pankaj Mittal head the benches, set the verdict against him aside holding that he had no proof the man declining to marry did help end the woman's life. The Court pointed out that though the physical relationship was involved, it could not be held that the act of Kamruddin had driven the woman to take her life. Hence, it acquitted him and held that a breakup or refusal to marry cannot be treated as an act for which a criminal act has been committed that leads to suicide.

This ruling is considered a landmark judgment that sets the boundaries of the law in cases where personal relationships and tragic outcomes overlap.