The Kerala High Court has ruled that casual comments such as “go away and die”, often employed during an argument between two people, do not constitute incitement to suicide.
Saying ‘go and die’ in a fight is not incitement to suicide: Kerala High CourtA bench of Justice C Pratip Kumar relied on a 1995 Supreme Court order in Swami Prahladas v State of MP, while examining a criminal revision petition filed by a 30-year-old man who faced charges including abetment to suicide, observed.
In this case, the petitioner was in a relationship with a married woman. When the woman learns that he is planning to marry another woman, she questions him, leading to a verbal altercation. During the argument, he allegedly told her to “go away and die”. The woman and her five-and-a-half-year-old daughter later committed suicide in 2023.
The person filed the application challenging the order of the Sessions Court rejecting the acquittal plea in the case. The sessions court decided to frame charges under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 204 (destruction of document to prevent its production as evidence).
“What matters is the intention of the accused and not what was perceived by the deceased. In the instant case also, the words ‘go and die’ uttered by the petitioner were in a verbal altercation between the petitioner and the deceased without any intention to induce the deceased, which is not brought out in the higher category of incitement to suicide under Section IP 3.” On January 28, the bench of the court gave its verdict.
“Since the allegations do not constitute an offense under Section 306 of the IPC, the offense under Section 204 of the IPC would also not be attracted,” it added.
