This article is written by Mayank Upadhyay, a Third-year law student of Delhi Metropolitan Education

INTRODUCTION

The Legal system in India deals with two types of matters i.e. Criminal & Civil. The wrongs that are committed against the society at large are Criminal Matters and on the other hand, the wrong committed against an individual are classified as Civil Matters. Harm against body or mind or harm committed against humans (in simple terms) is called Homicide. The word ‘Homicide’ is derived from two Latin words i.e. ‘Homo’ meaning ‘man’ and ‘Cider’ meaning ‘killing’ which is thereby altogether means as ‘Killing of a man’. Homicides are of two types as mentioned in IPC & BNS which are Lawful Homicide (Homicides which are not punishable), these are mentioned in General Exceptions, Chapter IV and III of IPC and BNS respectively) and Unlawful Homicide (Homicides which are punishable and are grave and serious in nature that includes Murder, Culpable Homicide, Suicide etc). In this article, we are going to deal with Meaning and Causes of Suicide, Definition of Attempt to Suicide as per Indian Penal Code, its constitutionality and its context to Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

WHAT IS SUICIDE?

Suicide refers to the act of causing one own death and ending his life. The word ‘Suicide’ is derived from two Latin words ‘Sui’ means ‘self’ & ‘Cider’ means ‘killing’ which altogether means as ‘Self – killing’.

The type of Suicide where one individual instigates, aids or helps the other person to commit suicide; then it is called as Assisted Suicide. In legal terms as per Section 306 of IPC and Section 106 of BNSS; this term is known as ‘Abetment to Suicide’.

As the person who committed suicide is already died thus, he is not punishable under Indian Penal Code or any other law but the person attempting the suicide is to be punished under Section 309 of IPC.

Let’s discuss the concept of Attempt to Suicide as per Indian Penal Code in detail.

SECTION 309: ATTEMPT TO SUICIDE

Section 309 of IPC states that when any person does any act that have been committed with intent to cause death but the attempt fails, then the person will be held liable for the simple imprisonment that is extended to one year or with fine or both

Ingredients of Section 309

· Person shall have an intention of killing himself [Mens Rea should be present]

· Act should have been committed in order to cause death.

· Death should not be caused that means the act must be a failed attempt.

THUS, if all the above mentioned ingredients or elements are fulfilled by an accused then he/she will be liable with the simple imprisonment extended to one year or with fine or with both OR In simple terms, he/she shall be punished with the offence of Attempt to Suicide.

SECTION 306: ABETMENT TO SUICIDE

According to Section 306 of IPC, when any person abets any person in form of instigating or aiding to commits suicide and that person committed suicide, then the person who abets shall be held liable with either Simple or Rigorous Imprisonment for a term extending upto ten years and with fine.

[NOTE – It should be noted that with the introduction of new Criminal law; Abetment to Suicide is mentioned under Section 106 of BNS 2023.]

DOES NAME WRITTEN IN SUICIDE NOTE CAN BE SOLE EVIDENCE FOR CONVICTION OF ACCUSED?

In the case of AR Madhav Rao v. State of Haryana, 2018, it was held that merely naming a person in the suicide note does not make that person liable under Section 306 IPC. Other factors or circumstances should be proven to establish the accused as guilty. These circumstances include any act leading to instigation, provocation etc.

CAUSES OF SUICIDE IN INDIA

Suicide is considered as personal tragedy that takes the life of one person but put the long term impact on lives of the deceased family. Some of common factors heard by all of us in daily news are love affairs, family problems, career related problems, exams related problems, debts and insolvency etc.

[As per the report made by NCRB [National Crime Record Bureau], the total no. of suicides reported in a country for the year of 2020 was recorded as 1,53,052 suicides which accounts of more than 10% suicides as compared to 2019. Maharashtra, among all the states of India, topped the chart with most no. suicides accounting for 13% followed by Tamil Nadu (11%), Madhya Pradesh (9.5%), West Bengal (8.6%), Karnataka (8%) and continued. The two most common factors recognised by NCRB in their 2020 report were ‘family problems’ and ‘illness’ accounting for 33.6% and 18% respectively.]

Some other factors of Suicides are:-

• Drug Abuse/ Addiction – 6%

• Marriage related issues – 5%

• Love Affairs – 4.4%

• Bankruptcy/ Indebtedness – 3.4%

• Insolvency – 2.3%

• Failure in Examination – 1.4%

• Professional/ Career Problem – 1.2%; and

• Poverty – 1.2%
  
  

NOTE:

[It is to be noted that the Suicide can be caused by multiple number of factors. The list of causes of Suicide given above is just a narrower list of the complete report. For the NCRB report 2020, you can refer to references.]

In order to understand the constitutionality of Section 309, following landmark judgements of High Courts and Supreme Court shall be understood:

1. Maruti Shripati Dubal v. State of Maharashtra (1986)

In this case, Bombay High Court had strike down Section 309 of Indian Penal Code held it to be unconstitutional and violative of Article 21 of Indian Constitution by examining the following reasons:

• Article 21 of Indian Constitution i.e. Right to Life and Personal Liberty also includes ‘Right to die’ and thus, Section 309 of IPC is violative of Article 21.

• The desire to die and right to die is to natural human circumstances and if someone is ending his/her life then it will be considered as his/her voluntary decision.

• It also states that the challenged provision is also violative Article 14 of Indian Constitution (Right to Equality).
  
  

2. Chenna Jagadeeswar & Anr. v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1987)

In this case, Andhra Pradesh High Court held that ‘Right to die’ is not included under Article 21 of Indian Constitution and states that the challenged provision is not violative of Article 19 and 21 of Indian Constitution. Thus, High Court of Andhra Pradesh held Section 309 lawful and constitutional.

3. P. Rathinam v. Union of India (1994)

In this court, the apex court or Supreme Court held that the views expressed in the judgement of Bombay High Court in Maruti Shripati Dubal’s case was right that a person has a right to die and Section 309 unconstitutional. In this case, Section 309 was challenged for being violative of Article 14 and 21 of Indian Constitution. The apex court in this case also held the challenged provision as Cruel and irrational provision. It was further held that Article 21 also includes the right of not living a forced life and thus, it upheld the Bombay HC judgement and held Section 309 IPC unconstitutional.

4. Gian Kaur v. State of Punjab (1996)

Under this case, it was stated by the Supreme Court that Article 21 does not include ‘Right to die’ and ‘Right to be killed’. The apex court in this case overruled its own judgement given in the P. Rathinam Case & set aside the judgement given Bombay HC Maruti Dubal’s Case & upheld the Andhra Pradesh judgement in Chenna Jagadeeswar case and held Section 309 lawful and constitutional.

Observation by Justice J.S. Verma

Justice J.S. Verma observed in this case that Right to life is a natural right that is embodied in Article 21 and Suicide is a unnatural termination and thus, it is inconsistent with Article 21 of Indian Constitution and does not included in it.

ATTEMPT TO SUICIDE IN CONTEXT TO BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 completely eliminates the Section 309 of Indian Penal Code and from now, Attempt to Suicide is considered no offence and the person will not be held liable. However, attempting suicide with the means to prevent a public official from carrying out his duty is still recognised as a punishable offence. Section 224 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (2023) states that when any person attempt to commit suicide with the intention of restricting any public servant or official from discharging his lawful duty then, such person attempting suicide shall be held liable with simple imprisonment for a term extending to one year or fine or both or community service.

CONCLUSION

With Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita removing the Section 309 of IPC and making it non – punishable created a hot topic of debate for many critics, scholars, politicians, general public etc. Some are in the favour of BNS removing Section 309 as per the thought that every individual has a right to live with personal liberty and dignity and if he/she feels deprived of then he/she can end his/her life while others are against the BNS stating Suicide as a sin and thinks its attempt should be punishable. At last, I would like to conclude Think twice about yourself and about your family as Suicide is not the last option.

“LIFE WILL NEVER COME BACK; SO THINK TWICE WHILE COMMITTING SUICIDE”




REFERENCES:

1 https://prsindia.org/files/bills_acts/bills_parliament/2023/Bharatiya_Nyaya_Sanhita,_2023.pdf – BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA

2 Ronika Tater, ‘Is a person’s name in a suicide note enough to prove his culpability’ (2021) https://blog.ipleaders.in/persons-name-suicide-note-enough-prove-culpability/ accessed 2nd September 2024

3 Oishika Banerji, ‘All about Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code 1860’ (2022)https://blog.ipleaders.in/all-about-section-309-of-the-indian-penal-code-1860/#State_wise_statistics_of_suicides_in_India_2016-2020 accessed 2nd September 2024

4 https://www.thehinducentre.com/resources/article36608465.ece
CONSTITUTIONALITY OF SECTION 309 OF INDIAN PENAL CODE

51987(1)BOMCR499

61988 Cri LJ 549

71994 AIR 1844

81996 AIR 946