PG Medico Suicide Case: Kerala HC grants bail to doctor accused of dowry demands

The accused has been charged with offenses under Section 306 IPC ('Abetment of Suicide') and Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act ('Penalty for demanding dowry'). The bail plea was considered by Justice Gopinath P, who, taking into account the accused's custody since December 7, 2023, concluded that further detention was unnecessary for investigative purposes and allowed for his release on bail, reports LiveLaw. 

"The allegations against the petitioner are no doubt serious. I had also observed while granting bail to the 2nd accused in the case (Ruvais' father), that there are clear allegations against the petitioner in the suicide note recovered from the apartment where the deceased was staying. However, as rightly pointed out by the Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner, a condition under Section 306 IPC can be sustained only if there are clear indications that the petitioner had the mens rea to drive the deceased to suicide, and the actions of the petitioner had left the deceased with no option but to commit suicide," the Court observed.

The Court had previously granted anticipatory bail to Ruwais's father, who was also named as the second accused in the case. In the bail application presented by Advocate Nireesh Mathew on behalf of the accused, it was asserted that there was no substantial evidence linking him to the alleged offense. He argued that the relationship between him and the victim had reached a stage where they started talking about a marriage proposal. However, his father had suggested delaying the marriage until the completion of education, a proposal that the victim found unacceptable. The petitioner contended that the victim was pressuring him to marry her against his father's advice, a decision he chose not to follow. The doctor refused to accept that any conversation regarding any kind of dowry ever took place between the two families.