12 years on, woman cleared of abetting to husband’s suicide

he woman, identified as Ritu Jain, allegedly taunted and harassed his husband, Ankit Jain, which forced the latter to die by suicide.

Mumbai: The sessions court recently acquitted a woman, around 12 years after she was booked, for allegedly abetting the suicide of her husband. The woman, identified as Ritu Jain, allegedly taunted and harassed his husband, Ankit Jain, which forced the latter to die by suicide.

The prosecution claimed that Ankit had left a suicide note which was seized by the police. However, a case was not registered immediately. Only after a year, when Ghansham sought documents from police under the Right to Information Act, he was given the note. (Getty Images)

As per the prosecution, Ankit, an engineer, hailed from Meerut and was working in a firm in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in 2011. “He got married to Ritu on February 9, 2011. Ankit’s father Ghansham Jain on August 28, 2011, was calling him since morning, but Ankit did not respond. Then, Ghansham requested his relative to check on him. Accordingly, the relative went to Ankit’s house and found out he was hanging from the ceiling fan,” added the prosecution.

The prosecution claimed that Ankit had left a suicide note which was seized by the police. However, a case was not registered immediately. Only after a year, when Ghansham sought documents from police under the Right to Information Act, he was given the note.

The prosecution claimed that from the note Ghansham found that Ritu used to insult Ankit and taunt him and because of this Ankit had gone into depression and committed suicide. Based on the note, the police registered a case on September 3, 2012.

Ritu was arrested for abetment of suicide on May 23, 2015, and was granted bail on July 22, 2015.

The note was planted, said the defence lawyer Mehul Thakkar, adding, “The case was registered almost a year after the alleged suicide note was found.” The defence also claimed that when the note was sealed on the spot how was it given to Ghansham without opening the seal and this indicated manipulation on the part of the police.

The court after considering the note, said, “It appears that the accused was loving Ankit very much, so he was unable to live without her. His only grievance was that the accused was unable to understand his love for her. He has repeatedly written that she had obliged him time and again, but he could not reciprocate her obligation in this life but in the next life he will do that. In the suicide note, nowhere Ankit wrote what kind of taunts the accused was using towards him.”

The court further noted that from the suicide note also it can’t be said that there was the instigation at the hands of Ritu of such a magnitude causing Ankit to commit suicide.