Kerala HC grants bail to man accused of abetting suicide of girlfriend

The case against the man is that he and his parents made exorbitant dowry demands, including luxury car, gold and property, to the woman’s family who could not afford them

Kochi

Justice Gopinath P of the Kerala high court, while hearing the plea for bail, noted that the continued detention of the petitioner was not necessary for the purposes of investigation and that he could be allowed bail. (HT Archives)

The Kerala high court on Friday granted conditional bail to a man, accused of abetting the suicide of his girlfriend by making dowry demands.

The man was arrested from Kollam earlier this month following the death by suicide of his girlfriend, a postgraduate medical student at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College.

The case against the man is that he and his parents made exorbitant dowry demands, including luxury car, gold and property, to the woman’s family who could not afford them. The man later backed out of the marriage proposal which drove his girlfriend to depression and later suicide, police said.

Justice Gopinath P, while hearing the plea for bail, noted that the continued detention of the petitioner was not necessary for the purposes of investigation and that he could be allowed bail.

“...as rightly pointed out by the senior counsel appearing for the petitioner, a condition under section 306 IPC can be sustained only if there are clear indications that the petitioner had the mens rea (the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime) to drive the deceased to suicide and the actions of the petitioner had left the deceased with no option but to commit suicide,” the bench said.

The petitioner’s father, the second accused in the case, was also granted bail earlier.

Anticipatory bail plea of rape-accused lawyer rejected

In another case, the high court dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of a rape-accused former government pleader.

The case pertains to the former senior government pleader PG Manu facing allegations of rape of a woman who had come to him seeking legal aid in a sexual harassment case.

The HC however said, “If the petitioner surrenders within 10 days, he will be produced before a magistrate who shall consider his bail application without delay.”

The petitioner had alleged that the charges against him were false and were part of a “calculated attempt” by some of his professional rivals.