The Supreme Court recently discharged a teacher who had been accused of abetment to suicide after a student died by suicide following a scolding by the teacher.
The Court said that no mens rea can be attributed to the accused as “no normal person could have imagined that a scolding, that too based on a complaint by a student, would result in such tragedy due to the student so scolded taking his own life.”
The bench comprising Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Prashant Kumar Mishra set aside the Madras High Court's decision, which had refused to discharge the Appellant for the offence of abetment to suicide under Section 306 IPC.
The Appellant acted as a responsible authority addressing a complaint; no evidence suggested he intended the tragic outcome, the court said.
Furthermore, to establish the charge of abetment to suicide, it is essential to prove elements such as instigation, provocation, or intentional aid in committing the act; without proof of these ingredients, the offence of abetment to suicide is not made out.
Since the mens rea was absent, thus, the court deemed it fit to discharge the Appellant and allowed the appeal.
Case Title: THANGAVEL VERSUS THE STATE
Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 659
Appearance:
For Appellant(s) : Mr. Gaurav Agarwal, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mayank Pandey, AOR Mr. Ashish Kumar Pandey, Adv. Mr. Arun, Adv. Mr. Ankur Singhal, Adv.
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, AAG Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Mr. Beno Bencigar, Adv. Mr. S.P. Kashyap, Adv. Mr. Parijat Kishore, AOR
