Karnataka High Court raps police for charging man with abetment when his wife is alive despite suicide attempt

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by petitioner’s wife alleging prolonged domestic harassment and abuse.

Terming as “recklessness and mechanical prosecution” the action of the police in wrongly invoking abetment to suicide provision of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against a man resulting in his wrongful incarceration in jail for the past six months, the High Court of Karnataka has ordered departmental inquiry against a police inspector, who had filed a charge-sheet against the man despite the victim, his wife, being alive.Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while also ordering immediate release of the 29-year-old man, a resident of Bengaluru, who had been booked by the Banaswadi police under Sections 108 (abetment to suicide), 62, 85 and 352 of the BNS, 2023.Case backgroundThe case stemmed from a complaint filed by petitioner’s wife alleging prolonged domestic harassment and abuse. According to the complaint, a quarrel broke out on October 20, 2025, after the petitioner allegedly returned home intoxicated and assaulted her. Distressed by the incident, the wife attempted suicide by jumping from the second floor of their residence. She survived with injuries and later lodged a police complaint.“What shocks the judicial conscience is not merely the erroneous invocation of the provision, but the grave consequence that followed in its wake,” the court observed.The court noted that Section 108 applies only when “any person commits suicide”, making the existence of an actual suicide a foundational requirement for prosecution. “There is no suicide in the case at hand. The wife who has survived an injury is now hale and healthy and is standing before this court,” Mr. Nagaprasanna remarked.Non-application of mindCalling the prosecution a “glaring manifestation of non-application of mind”, the court criticised the investigating officer for filing the charge-sheet “without even adverting to the elementary ingredients” of the offence and for depriving of his liberty under a legally unsustainable charge-sheet.The criminal justice system “cannot be reduced to a frolicsome act of the investigating officer, where accusations are drafted upon whim and fancy,” the court said.Meanwhile, the court quashed the criminal proceedings and the petitioner and his wife had amicably settled their matrimonial dispute and wished to resume their relationship. Published - May 29, 2026 07:19 pm IST