Tough to charge doctor with abetment to suicide: Legal experts

In the wake of a video-recorded dying declaration of 40-year-old model-actor Shikha Joshi in Versova, legal experts told dna on Tuesday that it will be very difficult for the police to register an abetment to suicide case against one Dr Sharma, who is named in the declaration. The experts said just on the basis of mere allegations, the police cannot arrest anyone.

Senior advocate Shariff Sheikh said the police will have to at least find some evidence in connection with some basic theories to seek custody of the one who has been accused. "The police will have to check the last call theory (if the accused had telephonic communication with the deceased before she killed herself), the last seen together theory (if someone had seen them together a few days before she killed herself), or if an eyewitness informs the police that there was a verbal fight between the suspect and the deceased, because of which she decided to end her life," said Shariff.

"Just for the sake of argument, if we consider that the police arrest the doctor, there is a high possibility of the court releasing him on bail after a few days in police custody, because you need strong evidence to curb the liberty of any person."

Another advocate Santosh Deshpande said the police need to bring the evidence on record and only after that can they take a step towards arresting him. "However, looking at the facts of the case, one cannot rule out the possibility of the court giving the accused the benefit of doubt."