The Supreme Court has ruled that demanding repayment of a debt does not amount to abetment of suicide, quashing criminal proceedings against a Gujarat man accused of such abetment. The case involved the suicide of a man in Gujarat’s Morbi district, allegedly due to harassment by multiple creditors, including the appellant, over unpaid loans. The court set aside the Gujarat High Court’s order that had declined to dismiss the FIR and subsequent proceedings under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The prosecution’s case was based on a suicide note and call detail records, which showed the appellant had made numerous calls to the deceased before the incident. The court found the suicide note lacking in specific details about the alleged threats and the roles of the accused. It noted that the note named nine creditors without specifying their individual roles, making a trial based on it futile.
The bench also highlighted that demanding repayment through phone calls, even if repeated, does not constitute criminal behavior. The court emphasized that the absence of evidence of physical assault or coercion on the deceased further weakened the case. Consequently, the court concluded that continuing the criminal proceedings would be an abuse of the legal process and quashed the charges against the appellant.
