The Supreme Court has made important remarks about the suicide of a woman in the battle of two neighbors. On Tuesday (September 9, 2025), the court said that incidents like debate or scuffle between neighbors did not come under the purview of abetment to suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court has made this comment in the case in which a woman has been sentenced to three years by the Karnataka High Court. The High Court believes that another woman committed suicide due to the harassment of the accused woman in a minor dispute of two neighbors.
According to the PTI report, the Supreme Court said that in order to apply Section 306 of the IPC, it is necessary that the accused has provoked the victim, assisting or motivated him to commit suicide. The court said, ‘Love your neighbor, this is an ideal situation, but quarrels in the neighborhood are not new to the society. Such quarrels are common in community life. The question is, does it become a case of abetment to suicide on the basis of facts? ‘
The court said that even though the relationship between the appellant and the victim’s families was stressful, they used to get angry, but they did not think the appellant directly or indirectly instigated the victim to commit suicide or had any such intention.
The Supreme Court said, “Such quarrels are part of everyday life, and based on the facts we cannot say that the appellant did something that did not show any other way to the victim other than suicide.”
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition challenging the order of the Karnataka High Court in which the High Court convicted the accused woman under Section 306 of the IPC, but acquitted the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 of Section 3 (2) (V) of the Act, 1989.
The case is in 2008, in which a minor dispute started between the accused woman and the victim which lasted for about six months. It is alleged that the victim was a teacher, who could not tolerate the persecution being done by the accused continuously and committed suicide.