Abetting suicide?

As per Indian law 1860 act 360, abetting suicide is a criminal offence punishable with up to 10 years of imprisonment.  But what is defined as abetting suicide?  “If any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

There are multiple aspects to consider.  First of all, attempting suicide as per law is criminal offence…   But then decriminalizing suicide would leave open a big loop hole for offenders who do such things to escape. 

The apex court said that different persons react differently to a given situation and, therefore, the factum of mensrea (criminal intention) of the accused has to be established for charging or convicting a person.

Unless there is an "active" act on the part of the accused to instigate the victim to commit suicide, a person cannot be charged or convicted for abetting the offence, the Supreme Court has ruled (2011 news).

Recent cases of abetting suicide charges in 2014 – Pondicherry B tech student’s suicide and 4 professors charged

14 year old girl who committed suicide in Chennai - below is a newspaper report of it. 

26^th feb 2014 – timesofindia, tamilnadu

PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry police on Wednesday arrested four professors of a private engineering college on charges of abetting the suicide of a first-year girl student.
The police arrested Ernest Paul, Bhavani, Geetha and Priyadarshini following an inquiry by a revenue official over the alleged suicide of I Vinodhini, a first-year electrical and electronic engineering student of Sri Manakula Vinayagar Institute of Technology. Vinodhini allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the terrace of the five-storey college building on Monday.
The girl's uncle, M A Akbar, said the professors assaulted her in front of other students on Friday for faring poorly in studies. He said the faculty members denied permission to her to enter the classroom on Monday morning. This drove her to take the extreme step, he alleged.
Earlier, the girl's relatives refused to sign the documents for conducting the postmortem and demanded immediate arrest of the faculty members who allegedly harassed her. Only when the police arrested the professors on Wednesday evening did the girl's father, Ilango, sign the documents.
Another professor, Sethupathy, who was also booked, was not arrested after preliminary inquiries revealed that he was not involved in the crime.
On Wednesday morning, relatives and representatives of students' federation and parents' forums gathered in front of the Raj Nivas demanding the arrest of the professors.

Another news report, from Coimbatore... 

 Indian express, 3^rd march 2013

A 2nd year BCA student committed suicide by eating cow dung powder at her home at Pavizham Street in Coimbatore on Friday evening after she was reprimanded by lecturers at her college on suspicion that she had tampered with the attendance register to hide her poor attendance record. The principal of the college and some lecturers were booked on Saturday on charges of abetting suicide and for criminally intimidating the girl.

Police said K Mahalakshmi (20) had returned for classes at the Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts & Science for Women after being on leave for 16-days as she had gone with her family on a pilgrimage. Her lecturers scolded Mahalakshmi saying that she could not appear for the upcoming semester examinations as she lacked the minimum required attendance.  “Later, a few pages in the class attendance register were torn. The lecturers suspected Mahalakshmi had done this to destroy evidence of her poor attendance. Her mother Kamatchi was summoned to the college and was warned,” police said.

After returning home, Mahalakshmi consumed cow dung powder during a power cut between 6 and 7 pm. Kamatchi noticed her lying unconscious around 7 pm when the power was restored. She died as she was being taken to Hospital. Kamatchi and her relatives protested at the hospital premises on Saturday seeking action against college officials. “The teachers ill-treated Mahalakshmi. The girl repeatedly pleaded that she had not torn the papers, a relative. However, a spokesperson of the college denied that Mahalakshmi was harassed. “She confessed to having torn the papers after an enquiry by teachers. So, the principal merely asked her to submit a letter of apology.,” said the spokesperson.

How much undue pressure does this put on teaching profession?  How can it be addressed?  its a complex issue. 

Another related news from Tamilnadu below (there are news from other areas of India too, later on). 

TNN | Dec 20, 2013, 05.53AM IST

YAMUNANAGAR: Two years and a long legal battle later, a teacher has been arrested on Wednesday for abetting the suicide of a Class XII student of a private school here.
The student had set himself ablaze in December 2011. His mother Sunita had alleged that his teacher had driven him to take the extreme step. The boy also had left a suicide note in which he accused the teacher of harassing him.  With police failing to take action, the boy's mother approached the Punjab and Haryana high court pleading for action against the teacher.

I.I.T or Indian Institute for Technology are other hotspots for suicides (or, media is quick to report a suicide happening in such places.  there is even a blog which focuses on suicides in various IIT's).   Below is some excerpts from news reports:

a report about IIT Kanpur, which is infamous for highest number of suicides among IIT's...

“Students from no other state face such huge pressure, and my experience over the years shows that most AP students experience it (parental pressure).  Its unfortunate that some of these students take up extreme step unable to bear with pressure” (sanjay g dhande, former director, iitk – taken from a newspaper article from internet)

Another report about IIT Bombay... 
 "With increase in student suicide rates, there is an immediate need to address academic, emotional and psychological attributing factors faced by the students. Accordingly, there is a need to establish and enhance a professional counselling service programme at IIT Bombay," said Sandeep Pandya from the 1986 batch, who is also treasurer of the IIT Bombay Heritage Fund (IITBHF).

The programme, says a white paper on the project, will look at recruiting professional, high-quality medical/psychological counsellors and creating a collaborative programme to leverage expertise and assistance from top medical/psychological institutes in Mumbai. It will also focus on formalising and providing mentoring services through the alumni community to help with career counseling and industry mentoring.

The batch aims to raise Rs 2.25 crore for their legacy project, where 50 per cent of the contributions are expected to come alumni in India and the rest from those abroad. "The 1986 batch legacy is to strengthen existing and create new programmes related to students and is the first batch to adopt this approach," says the white paper.

A report from Maharashtra state... 

The hindu - maharashtra, January 10, 2012

The mother of a 16-year-old girl student has blamed four teachers of a school in Shirala in Sangli for her suicide.

Hemlata Patharbale, in her complaint with the police on January 6, has accused the four teachers of the New English School of harassing her daughter Komal Patharbale, a class 11 student.

Ms. Patharbale has filed the complaint on the basis of the suicide note left by the girl. The complaint apparently narrated the incidents leading up to the suicide and accused the son of a police constable studying in the same institution of harassing Komal.

Although Komal had brought this to the notice of the teacher, action was not taken.

Instead of preventing the harassment of the four teachers started insulting and taunting the girl with obscene comments, the mother said in her complaint.

The humiliation by the teachers prompted her to take the extreme step, she added.

Now, connecting suicides by farmers... 

 

In 2012, more than 13,000 farmers killed themselves in India.

Most were saddled with steep debts, having failed to pay back loans they had taken from banks, micro-finance companies and money lenders after their crops failed. Farm suicides - nearly 300,000 since 1995 - are India's shame, a colossal national tragedy.  But, can the lenders be lawfully charged with abetting such suicides?

From mental health point of view, depression as an illness can lead to suicidal behaviour.  But there might not be a long standing mental illness in many a case of suicide.  In the same vein abetting homicide also could be claimed.  But then, the Indian supreme court’s comment that there has to be an active and criminal intention to prove abetment of suicide.  Similarly are banks abetting suicide of farmers?

Similarly would legal provisions come up with abetting homicide?