Suicides: NEVER break open the door.
Off late I have got a couple of cases of IPC Section 306 in Mumbai western. Section 306 is filed when the wife commits suicide and the abetment charges are levied on the group of people whom the parents or relatives of wife presume or suspect as the abettors.
By default the ones staying under the same roof, i.e the famous Indian Joint Family becomes a part of the package aftermath massacre which is a part of legal process. The holocaust hold all of them guilty prima facie till proven innocent.
To narrate case one, I got Vineet (name changed), a sales manager from a media company who found his beloved wife hanging in the bedroom at an odd hour of the day, when she was supposed to be at work in her fortune 500 MNC where she was employed, she abruptly returned from her work place in afternoon, locked herself in the room and hung herself by the ceiling fan. The case could have been well of a work pressure as she was the modern day working women but the mindsets of the Indian law believes that a lady has to be harassed by her inlaws to take such a heinous step and on the other hand if a man is literally harassed by his wife and inlaws yet he is presumed to have committed the act because of alleged work pressure.
Though there was no suicide note, yet Vineet and his entire family had to undergo Judicial Custody as the defense was weakened since the door was broken open by them only to fine the wife hanging by the ceiling fan with a dupatta around her neck.
Another case is of Mayank a Sales Associate with a private Bank who had married an air hostess. His wife committed suicide again probably due to work pressure, also left a suicide note giving him and his family a clean chit. But yet he is behind bars since Feb 18th 2010 till date in Judicial Custody. And the police are cleverly delaying his bail even after chargesheets being filed.
In both above cases the family broke the door open without informing neighbors and police. As a result they eliminated all the witness, who could have stood by their side in telling that the door was closed from within when the suicide occurred.
Another simple tool that we fail to use in such cases is the video camera available on the phone that could be a good witness in cases where presumption of holding accused guilty till proven innocent is the trend.
Vineet and Mayank both individually as well as a family are suffering big time to the hands of courts. Vineet is lucky enough to have got bail. But Mayank’s joint family is very unfortunate as his Govt employeed parents and Aunt lost the job after detention, and his sister Divya who just got married is the sole bread earner for the family. Thanks to her inlaws who are allowing her to earn and give the money to her parents for fighting the case and getting Mayank out.
So just to summarize, the ones who are stuck in a situation where the wife has locked herself in a room and is not opening the door, then act with caution…
1. Immediately Call the neighbors and security guards etc
2. Take the video on your mobile of the entire proceedings. Capture the time and date also in the video. Make it as elaborative evidence as possible, as picture speaks thousand words.
3. Call the police, but do not open the door in absence of witness.
I repeat, NEVER NEVER NEVER break open that Door. Else you would close all the doors of your rescue and it would be presumed that the in laws are guilty of abetting the suicide.
Any more points….? then please discuss.
Jinesh Zaveri.
posted by IndianHusbands | 11:46 PM
10 Comments:
Indian law system seems pretty screwed up and corrupt. Even the people of India seem to have foolish beliefs.
Well written article and practically true in 21st century.
The older generation will not listen to even sage advice from younger generation.
Most indians keep away from law or police, and will pay bribe to get away from 'problem'.
It is not a surprise that the 'problem' finds you, since u are both weak in your dealing with law; and also overconfident in your oldies' way of handling life problems. All that respect u earned in life carries no weight in eyes of law or law holders who stand to gain a lot from implicating you in 'abla-naari's suicide.
1. When did u vote last time?
2. Did u care about how and why the laws are passed?
3. Didn't you pay bribes to get shortcuts rather than standing for what's right?
Did you care about false cases, police incompetence, judicial corruption ever before this time? That seemed to be some useless things fought by some underworked people.
So this time, YOU are the one who happens to be part of the statistics! It is not bad luck or accident, rather collective bad karma of society collecting its victims randomly or maybe not so randomly.
Good suggestion Jinesh,
No body expects such incident in his life, but somebody use his brain in extreme difficult situation and keep patience, and then he can be saved for balance of his life for going in deep trouble and pain due to such sufferings.
Need to publish more about the such Law, which are in existence in India, the lay person unless come across such situations like 498a and 304B never know that not having knowledge of law have lots of mistake at the time of such incidents.
Good writing,
Hope I will read a book from you one day!
AJ
Anon, Yodha and AJ thanks for your feedback.
Book well its herculean but I never expected to go beyond Sita Surpanakha. And today its approx 100+ articles for a single cause.
Keep Coming to my blog and keep giving your valuable feedback.
Achcha Lagta hai.
Cheers.
Hello Jinesh,
Thankyou for writing this bold article.
Devang
Thanks Devang,
Keep Coming on my blog, keep writing and keep circulating these links.
cheers.
Hi Jinesh, if I may take the liberty to add, that if the door is locked from inside or closed and the person is not opening or answering the door, make the call to the police first and let them open the door.
However people may be simply suspecting an accident and in a mad rush force the door open out of concern. Its diff to curb human instincts.
That same mad rush may make you forget to take out a video or photo of the closed door.
Of course taking photos is a must, even the police does that.
Your thoughts on calling the police and waiting for them to come, of course if spouse is suffering massive heart attack inside or is pregnant and sick, one would look like a bloody fool.
The security guard idea is good, but even then people take time to reach and some places may not have security guards.
Similarly with neigbors some may not be available at odd hours of the day.
Once something like this happens and you call the police first, then you can tell them what should I do my wife is inside the bedroom and is not opening the door, please come fast, or what should I do?
What if husband is alone with wife at home, a recent case of boyfriend watching tv, girl goes to the kitchen and hangs herself there. there was no door in the kitchen.
Anyway thanks for sharing the story, and writing, keeps the juices working.
Mona
with due respects to your views.
I would vehemently stick to what I have written.
Your thoughts are valid as thoughts and i second them. But when it comes up to putting in practice, well, the law is simply 'dumb' prima facie to consider what we idealistically adore.
Vineet and Mayank did act as per what is written by you and the result is in front of us, their case is very weak to being with. while Girish had called his neighbor and his case turned out to be a very strong one. today he is free.
I have written purely from my experience. A suicidal bride is like a suicide bomber who not only kills self but also the ones around, thanks to the IPC's and consideration of death of a housewife within 7 years of marriage as dowry death.
I would remind you too NEVER EVER BREAK open the door in such situations. You are a lawyer and you know the 1st implications. while u agree that police takes its time to reach the location similarly the justice too takes time in India to reach a conclusion.
tab tak damage is already done. till then its presumed Guilty till proven Innocent.
Cheers.
I completely understand about the situation and one has to be aware about all the precautionary measures he can take, while handling such situation, If we r thankful to the technology to help us to save from unnecessary hassle of judiciary, there are also chances that the same technology can be or can be considered as morphed video and picture.. coz after all its indian policy and judiciary how can they go aginst norm
I Shivashankara a Victim of such False Complent of Sec. 306, 498A Read with 34 of IPC, Incident happened on 26th Jan 2007 My wife Hamsageetha hung leaving back a child of 11 and half months and an other of 4 and half year at our small home even tough I expecting a good sum by clearing a Labour Case on 27th Jan or 31 Jan. that would have cleared all my financial Problems or even would have brought a very bad condition to me being the opposites were very strong christian group trying to defeat me in all possible ways. They abused the situation and able to book a false complaint on be and I had to be there at Jail for 126 days until I got the bail. Now I have won the case battle on 27-01-2010 and I got my job back along with Back wages and remarried Parvathi on 15-05-2011 living a tasteless life with my children.
For any other details contact 9743183369 because it is a very detailed story.
R. ShivaShankara
President : SAMSEVA
Post a Comment
<< Home