Distinguishing Cruelty From Distress: A Causation Framework For Abetment Of Suicide
- IJLLR Journal
- Aug 13
- 1 min read
Dr Anjali Yadav & Saumya Solanki, Assistant Director & Scientist ‘C’, Forensic Psychology Division, CFSL, Delhi, IndiaForensic Professional, Forensic Psychology
ABSTRACT
A decedent experienced mental cruelty is only the first step in an abetment- of-suicide inquiry under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Indian courts additionally require a proximate causal nexus between the accused’s conduct and the deceased’s decision to end her life, a standard articulated across Ramesh Kumar v. State of Chhattisgarh, Chitresh Kumar Chopra v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi), and their progeny. This paper addresses the question of causation directly, proposing a behavioural framework for distinguishing psychologically injurious cruelty from adjustment reactions and ordinary domestic friction, which Indian courts have held insufficient to sustain a conviction. Drawing on adjustment disorder diagnostic criteria, ostracism and social-pain research, Gottman’s relational framework of bids for connection and stonewalling, and Stark’s coercive control theory, the paper develops indicators for evaluating the temporal onset, targeting, instrumental function, and trajectory of a decedent’s psychological deterioration. It then situates these indicators against the evidentiary limits of the psychological autopsy method to propose an integrated, court-usable framework for assessing causation in mental cruelty-linked suicide cases within the Indian legal system.
Keywords: abetment of suicide, mental cruelty, causation, instigation, Section 108 BNS, adjustment disorder, ostracism, coercive control, psychological autopsy.
