The Court stated that the employer can, during the exercise of his duties, take decisions that could cause difficulties for the employee, but which do not constitute the crime of encouraging suicide, unless the employer has criminal intent to encourage the suicide of the employee.

Justice Amit Sharma made the observation while quashing a subpoena to Dr. GK Arora, former principal of BR Ambedkar College, Delhi University and a senior assistant named Ravinder Singh (petitioners) in a 2013 abetment to suicide case.

“This court is of the opinion that the person occupying a certain position, either in the private sector or in the public sector, in the exercise of his duties must take certain decisions which at a given moment may be harsh causing hardship to an employee. The same cannot, in the absence of the requisite mens rea, be termed an act amounting to instigation/encouragement under Section 306 of the IPC.” the Court observed.