The Allahabad High Court has maintained that having an illicit relationship is not strong evidence for a person to incite suicide.
A single bench of Justice Sameer Jain made this comment here on Tuesday while granting bail to one Kamal Bharbhuja in a suicide case from Mahoba district in Bundelkhand.
Kamal was accused of abetting a woman with whom he allegedly had an illicit relationship to commit suicide.
An FIR was registered at Kotwali Nagar in Mahoba district, and the trial court rejected his bail application. The accused then filed an appeal in the High Court against this.
The counsel submitted that although a case of murder was initially registered against Kamal, the investigation later revealed that the woman had committed suicide.
The police investigation also revealed that Kamal had an illicit relationship with the woman and that she was pressuring him to marry her. Based on this, the case was later converted into a suicide case and registered under various sections of the SC/ST Act.
The counsel for the accused argued that the allegations of abetment against his client were baseless. He emphasised that even if it is accepted that the two had an illicit relationship, it does not establish that the woman committed suicide as a result of incitement by his client. He also submitted that Kamal had no criminal history and had been in jail since January 1, 2025.
The court observed that merely establishing an illicit relationship is not sufficient to prove that the appellant abetted the woman’s suicide. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the High Court set aside the trial court’s order dated January 24 and ordered that Kamal Bharbhuja be released on conditional bail.