Employer’s Harsh Decision Not Enough to Hold Him Responsible for Employee’s Suicide: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently ruled that an employer cannot always be held responsible for an employee’s suicide due to work-related decisions, unless there is clear criminal intent to push the employee to take such an extreme step. The court stated that decisions made by an employer in the course of their duties, even if harsh and causing difficulty to the employee, do not amount to abetment of suicide unless there is intent to incite the act.

Justice Amit Sharma made this ruling while dismissing a trial court’s order that summoned Dr. G.K. Arora, former principal of BR Ambedkar College, and a senior assistant named Ravinder Singh. They were accused in connection with a 2013 case where a former woman employee of the college had self-immolated in front of the Delhi Secretariat and later died from her injuries.

The deceased employee, in her suicide note and statement to the police, had accused several individuals, including the petitioners, Delhi University’s Vice Chancellor, and the then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, of causing her distress. She claimed she had experienced heavy workload, harassment, and was unfairly terminated from her job in 2012. However, the court noted that her previous complaints had been investigated and closed after proper review.

The High Court pointed out that more than a year had passed between her termination and her death, and there was no evidence of any contact or actions by the petitioners during that time that could have led to her suicide. The court found no acts by the petitioners that were close enough in time to be considered incitement.

The court also emphasized that the deceased had grievances not just against the petitioners but also against other officials, including the Chief Minister and Vice Chancellor. Previous investigations by various commissions had already cleared the petitioners of any wrongdoing.

As a result, the High Court quashed the trial court’s order, finding no basis for a case of abetment of suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.