The Supreme Court has dismissed the criminal appeal in the case of Abhinav Mohan Delkar’s suicide, a seven-time Member of Parliament (MP) from Dadra & Nagar Haveli, on 18 August 2025. The Chief Justice, B.R. Gavai found no merit in the allegations of abetment to suicide under Sections 306 & 107 IPC.
The MP had left behind a suicide note in which he accused certain officials conspiring to destroy his political career. He further alleged that he had been subjected to continuous harassment and extortion. The note claimed that there had been an attempt to forcibly seize control of SSR College, an institution managed by his Trust. The appellant is the son who challenged the High Court decision before the Apex Court.
Justice B.R. Gavai found that while the MP had approached the Committee of Privileges in the Lok Sabha due to continuous harassment, though the same does not indicate basis for establishing abetment of suicide. Continuous harassment over time, without a proximate act leading directly to suicide, does not constitute abetment. Reliance was placed on the ratio in Ramesh Kumar v. State of Chhattisgarh. Abetment needs to entail a mental process of instigating or deliberately assisting someone in carrying out an act, and unless there is a clear, positive action by the accused in aiding, instigating, or otherwise abetting the deceased to commit suicide, a conviction cannot be upheld.
While a person might be unable to endure pressure or withstand humiliation making them succumb to ending their life, that does not necessarily imply that the alleged perpetrator had an intention to lead the victim to eventual death by his own or her own hands.
