The Bengaluru court has granted bail to Nikita Singhania, wife of AI engineer Atul Subhash, along with her mother Nisha and brother Anurag, who were arrested in the Atul Subhash suicide case. The trio was detained from Gurugram and Prayagraj. Allegations of harassment towards Atul led to their arrest. Prior to his death, Atul painstakingly penned a 27-page suicide note and recorded a video.
Post the Bengaluru court's decision, Nikita, Nisha, and Anurag Singhania were sent to judicial custody. Subsequently, they filed a bail plea through their lawyer. Bengaluru police charged them under section 108 (abetment to suicide) and 3(5) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which states that when multiple people commit an offense with the same intent, they share equal responsibility.
Section 108 pertains to abetment of suicide, potentially resulting in a 10-year imprisonment if conviction occurs. Yet, a crucial legal twist exists. On December 10 last year, the Supreme Court overturned a Gujarat High Court ruling, declaring that a person cannot be held guilty for abetment of suicide unless a direct link to the death is established.
The timing of death plays a significant role in such cases. In a Gujarat case involving a wife's suicide, her husband and in-laws faced abetment charges. However, the Supreme Court later acquitted them, indicating it’s unlikely Atul’s in-laws will be held responsible for his demise.
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Source: aajtak
Considering the Supreme Court's stance, it seems possible that Atul Subhash’s in-laws might soon gain substantial legal reprieve. For the past three years, Atul lived apart from Nikita in Bengaluru, with minimal contact beyond court dates. Given this timeline, a charge under section 306 against his in-laws for his suicide appears unlikely.
There’s no direct link proving his in-laws’ involvement in his suicide, as Atul himself revealed through his video, the 23-page suicide note, and a list of 32 tasks he wished to complete before his death. These elements suggest that Atul did not directly implicate his in-laws prior to his death.
They didn’t provide any direct means for suicide. Nevertheless, Atul’s note and video do reference a court incident where Nikita allegedly suggested suicide, provoking laughter from the judge. Yet, this incident reportedly took place two years prior.
