National

Telling someone `to go and die' not a crime: SC

NEW DELHI MAY 3. The Supreme Court has ruled that if a person, in a fit of rage, tells somebody ``to go and die'' and the latter commits suicide, he cannot be charged with the offence of abetting the crime under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In a matrimonial case, the girl's brother had a quarrel with her husband on the ground of ill-treatment meted out to her. In a fit of rage, he told him ``to go and die''. The woman's husband committed suicide after a day.

The brother was chargesheeted under Section 306. He filed a petition for quashing of the chargesheet before the Madhya Pradesh High Court but the same was rejected. He then approached the apex court.

Quashing the chargesheet, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justice M.B. Shah and Justice H.K. Sema said, ``even if we accept the prosecution story that the appellant did tell the deceased `to go and die', that itself does not constitute the ingredient of instigation.''

Writing the judgment for the Bench, Justice Shah said the word "instigate" denoted incitement or urging to do something drastic or unadvisable action or to stimulate or incite. ``Presence of mens rea (criminal intention), therefore, is the necessary concomitant of instigation. It is common knowledge that the words uttered in a quarrel or in the spur of the moment cannot be taken to be uttered with mens rea.''

Holding that the deceased was a victim of his own conduct, the apex court acquitted the person of all charges. — PTI

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