Delhi court acquits Haryana MLA in 2012 death-by-suicide case
The court held that the prosecution failed to establish that Kanda and his aide created circumstances that left Geetika Sharma with no other alternative.
A Delhi court on Tuesday acquitted Haryana MLA Gopal Goyal Kanda and one of his associates of the charge of abetting the suicide of air hostess Geetika Sharma in 2012, noting that the prosecution has failed to prove that the legislator compelled the 23-year-old to take the extreme step.
Although the suicide note found at Sharma’s residence blamed Kanda, of the Haryana Lokhit Party, now part of the NDA, and his associate Aruna Chaddha for her miseries and goading her to commit suicide, special judge Vikas Dhull, in his order, held that the prosecution failed to establish that the two created circumstances that left Sharma with no other alternative. The judge added that the possibility of Sharma, a former employee with MDLR Airlines that Kanda owned, committing suicide due to other reasons cannot be ruled out .
The prosecution had charged Kanda and his associate for allegedly harassing, criminally intimidating and abetting Sharma’s suicide based on her suicide note. “Two people responsible for my death are ARUNA CHADHA and GOPAL GOYAL KANDA. Both of them have broken my trust and misused me for their own benefits. They have ruined my life and now they are trying to sabotage my family members,” the note read.Sharma was found dead on August 5, 2012, at her residence in Delhi’s Ashok Vihar along with the suicide note.
But the special court noted that the contents of suicide note do not prove that accused committed any act or series of acts in such a manner or had created such circumstances for Sharma that she was left with no other option but to commit suicide. The court added that it also cannot be proved that the two had intended that Sharma should commit suicide.
“The prosecution has failed to prove offence under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) read with 120-B (criminal conspiracy), IPC, that accused persons pursuant to criminal conspiracy, had created such circumstances due to which deceased Geetika Sharma had no option but to commit suicide and the possibility of deceased Geetika Sharma committing suicide due to other reasons also cannot be ruled out”, the court said in its order.
It took note that there was no telephonic contact between Sharma and Kanda for seven to eight months before the incident and between Sharma and Chaddha in the month prior to the incident. Kanda and Chaddha had no occasion to directly instigate Sharma, the court held.
The court further observed that the act of Kanda and Chaddha of meeting Sharma in Dubai, while she was employed at Emirates Airlines after leaving MDLR, and asking her to come back does not show their intention to instigate her to die by suicide.
“The request made by accused persons to deceased Geetika Sharma to rejoin MDLR Group shows that accused persons wanted to retain deceased Geetika Sharma in their company i.e. MDLR and it cannot be said that they had any mens rea (intention) to instigate deceased Geetika Sharma to commit suicide”, it said.
The court further pointed out that Kanda and Chaddha met Sharma in Dubai in 2010 while she committed suicide two years later. “Such remote conduct does not amount to abetment of suicide,” it maintained.
The court ordered the release of the MLA from Sirsa and his associate on the condition of submitting a bond of ₹1 lakh each and one surety each of the like amount. Kanda faced a maximum of 10 years in jail under the abetment to suicide charge.
In its judgment, the court also criticised the prosecution for not investigating several other key aspects that could be linked to Sharma’s death.
It noted that six calls were made to her on the intervening night of the incident (August 4-5, 2012) of which, three calls were made by her brother, while the police had not investigated the remaining three calls.
“It was imperative for the investigating officer to have investigated those three calls which were received by deceased Geetika Sharma on 04.08.2012 as they were made prior to her death and could have thrown some light on deceased Geetika Sharma committing suicide”, the court noted.
It added that the possibility of some person known to deceased Geetika Sharma calling her and instigating her to die by suicide cannot be ruled out since there was no probe in this regard.
The court also exonerated Kanda and Chadha of charges of forgery. They were accused of forging Geetika’s no objection certificate to ensure she does not get a job elsewhere.
The two were initially charged under the Indian Penal Code’s Sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document). They were also charged under IPC Sections 376 (rape) and 377 (unnatural offences) but the Delhi high court later dropped these charges in March 2014 and granted Kanda bail . He spent around 19 months in jail during the trial. Chaddha was released on bail in February 2014.
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