Stern Behaviour By Boss Can't Be Considered Abetment Of Suicide: Top Court

The Supreme Court has held that a superior's stern behaviour, ordinary administrative directions, disciplinary supervision or adverse remarks about a junior's performance cannot, by themselves, form the basis for a conviction for abetment of suicide.The top court said that no matter how unpleasant a superior's actions may have been perceived by the dead person, they do not automatically constitute an offence of abetment of suicide.A bench of Justices Satish Chandra Sharma and N Kotiswar Singh said there must be additional material demonstrating a conscious intention to drive a subordinate to commit suicide, along with a proximate act amounting to instigation or intentional aid.Discharging a senior forest officer accused of abetting the suicide of a woman forest range officer, the court observed that "criminal liability under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (abetment to suicide) cannot rest on the tragic outcome alone and it must be founded upon the statutory…