Mumbai man jailed for attempting suicide, acquitted after 5 years

A court in Mumbai acquitted a man who had attempted suicide in 2017 after allegedly being rejected by a woman.

A Mumbai Magistrate Court acquitted a man who had allegedly tried to die by suicide in 2017 after being rejected by a woman.

The man has been booked under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). This section states that “whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such an offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year.”

Magistrate KH Thombre said, “The evidence that the accused stabbed himself in his stomach by knife or consumed poisonous substance to commit suicide is absent from the record. Mere circumstances are not sufficient to establish that the accused, due to the break up of a love affair, tried to commit suicide. The prosecution has to establish that the accused himself had caused injuries and consumed poisonous substance in order to end his life. None of the prosecution witnesses deposed that they saw the accused stabbing himself in his stomach by knife or consuming poisonous substance at the relevant time. In absence of clear evidence to establish guilt of the accused, accused cannot be fasten with the charge levelled against him."

The prosecution had made the case that on May 13, 2017, a man residing in Mumbai's Khar area had stabbed himself with a knife in front of the woman's house.

The police arrived at the spot and took him to Bhabha hospital. The doctors informed the police that the man had also consumed poison.

On May 12, the woman had lodged a complaint with the police claiming that the man had threatened her. The next day, the man drank poison and tried to take his own life.

During the investigation, it was revealed that between 2011 and 2016, the man had an affair with the woman in college.