A Thane court has granted bail to a 24-year-old man accused of encouraging the suicide of a woman who took out a loan from mobile loan apps, saying the FIR’s allegations do not show that there was continued harassment by the accused and other appellants.
A Thane court has granted bail to a man for encouraging the suicide of a woman who took out a loan from a loan app. (Photo: Representative)
STRONG POINTS
- 24-year-old man accused of encouraging woman’s suicide has been released on bail
- It is alleged that the woman was continuously harassed by a loan collector
- A suicide note was also recovered by police
Thane Court of Sessions has granted bail to a 24-year-old man in the case of the suicide of a woman who ended her life after being repeatedly harassed by loan collectors . The woman had taken loans from an app and repaid all the money, but was still receiving threatening calls from debt collectors.
WHAT IS THE CASE?
The charge was that the deceased identified as Daksha Boricha had availed a loan from Quick Loan App and Sunshine Loan App. However, despite repaying the loan amount, she was receiving calls from at least 12 different mobile phone numbers to settle her debts.
Debt collectors even forwarded messages about her to her relatives who said, “This woman is a thief. She ran away with a loan. Fed up with the harassment, the woman took her own life between March 14 and 16 and her body was only found when it was beached in Thane. A suicide note was also recovered by police.
Attorney Aditya Mishra appeared for the accused and argued that he was falsely arrested despite his non-involvement in the crime. There is no immediate incitement which is a precondition of Section 306 (encouraging suicide) of the Indian Penal Code, Mishra said.
On the other hand, the prosecution objected to the granting of bail and said that the defendant was transmitting messages via his own mobile phone and threatening the deceased to pay. She was constantly threatened with loan repayment. If bail is granted, the possibility of threatening the brother of the deceased woman who filed the complaint and the witnesses cannot be excluded.
THE ACCUSED ACCUSED SECURITY
Extra Sessions Judge RR Kakani, while granting bail, said the deceased was a loan borrower from the applications. However, the claims in the FIR do not show that there was ongoing harassment by the accused and other callers with the idea that the deceased would commit suicide.
The court also found that the brother of the deceased did not register the complaint until 7 days after the discovery of the body.
Apart from this, the object of bail is to secure the appearance of the accused at his trial by a reasonable amount of bail. Admittedly, the purpose of the bond is neither punitive nor preventive. It should be kept in mind that any pre-sentence incarceration has substantial punitive content, Judge Kakani said.
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