A mere refusal to marry a person would not amount to abetment to suicide under the Indian Penal Code, the Allahabad High Court held, according to The Times of India.

Justice Neeraj Tiwari, in response to a petition filed by Ambesh Mani Tripathi, dismissed charges against him under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code and the Dowry Prohibition Act.

The police alleged that Tripathi drove a woman to suicide by refusing to proceed with a marriage that had earlier been fixed. A court in Varanasi had been hearing the case.

The applicant’s counsel argued that if the claims made in the first information report were to be accepted, there were no grounds for a case of abetment to suicide. The counsel also said that a note was recovered from the woman, in which she said that she was taking the extreme step as the marriage could not take place, and that the applicant was not responsible for her act, according to The Times of India.

The court dismissed all criminal proceedings against Tripathi and said that Section 107 of the Indian Penal Code (abetment), when read with Section 306, clearly outlines the elements necessary to accuse a person of abetting suicide.

The court said that instigation or involvement in a conspiracy were crucial legal elements to invoke charges of abetment to suicide, and that these elements were absent from the present case.