Can't punish boss for suicide of 'overburdened' junior: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed a criminal case registered against a senior Maharashtra Education Department officer, charged with abetting suicide of his junior colleague, who apparently took the drastic because of being overburden with extra work.

A division bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, while allowing the plea filed by Deputy Director of Education, Vajinath Khandke, said "As a superior officer, if some work was assigned by the applicant to the deceased, merely on that count it cannot be said that there was any guilty mind or criminal intention. The exigencies of work and the situation may call for certain action on part of a superior. That action simply cannot be considered to be a pointer against a superior officer."

Wife of deceased Kishor Parashar, who served as a clerk in the department had filed the First information report against the accused alleging that her husband was under tremendous mental tension as he was overburdened with the work. He committed suicide in August 2017, due to overburden, stoppage of increment and humiliating treatment in the office.

The accused argued that "There is no suicide note left behind by the deceased and the only material on record is in the form of assertions made by his wife in her reporting to the police."

The court said "It is true that if a situation is created deliberately so as to drive a person to commit suicide, there would be room for attracting Section 306 IPC. However, the facts on record in the present case are completely inadequate and insufficient. Accordingly, the court allowed the petition filed by the senior officer and quashed the criminal case.