The High Court of Karnataka has refused to quash a criminal case against a 28-year-old man, who is facing the charge of allegedly abetting his classmate and live-in partner to commit suicide by extorting lakhs of rupees from her by blackmailing her using nude photos and videos.

Declining to accept the contention of the accused man that his alleged words like “go and die” and “do whatever you want” cannot be treated as abetment of suicide as has been held by the Supreme Court in various judgements, the High Court said that “the plea that this is a case of mere scorned affection or a casual taunt cannot be countenanced when placed against the backdrop of deliberate humiliation and alleged extortion.”

Young life lost

“The nuances and textures of this tragic narrative must be unfolded in a full-blown trial. It cannot be forgotten that a young life has been extinguished in a manner that raises grave concern. It is for the trial court to examine the depth of betrayal, the extent of coercion, and the veracity of the claims,” observed Justice M. Nagaprasanna while dismissing the petition filed by Varun G.A. of Mandya district.

The petitioner and the women were classmates during their engineering course and later they were in a live-in relationship for about three years when she was working in a company in Bengaluru.

Huge losses

It was alleged by the woman’s father that she had given the accused about ₹51 lakh, of which about ₹40 lakh was taken from her parents, said to be for investing in the stock market and had suffered huge losses.

During the investigation, the police recovered a number of nude photos and videos of the victim from the mobile phone and laptop of the accused and these were from the time when they were in the live-in relationship.

If the allegation of blackmail is proved, it can undoubtedly become abetment to suicide, the High Court said, while pointing out that it cannot step into the shoes of the trial court to assess the digital evidence, like the contents of the phones, the forensic science laboratory reports, and the testimonies recorded.