Big decision of Kerala High Court, mother guilty of murder of child acquitted under Mental Healthcare Act

The ‘Mental Healthcare Act’ protects a person from punishment under the IPC if he attempts suicide. The same law has helped a woman, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2016 for suffocating her 15-month-old child, after she herself tried to commit suicide at that time. Citing the provisions of this law, the Kerala High Court acquitted the woman, who was convicted by the Sessions Court, in 2023. The court said that she was under extreme mental stress at the time of the incident and had attempted suicide. Regarding this law which came into effect in 2018, the Kerala High Court had earlier said that it would be applicable from the previous date.

In the present case, the High Court said that this Act was in force when the trial began in 2021, so the Sessions Court should have kept it in mind. A bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and KV Jayakumar said that the woman attempted suicide by consuming a large quantity of paracetamol tablets, inflicted wounds on her wrist with a sharp object and also wrote a suicide note before committing these acts, which showed that she was under severe mental stress. The Court said that these circumstances were, prima facie, concrete evidence relating to the charge of attempted suicide. However, the prosecution made no concerted effort to prove the charge under section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

In its judgment dated June 8, the bench said that in the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the provisions of Section 115 of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (presumption of severe stress in case of suicide attempt) are applicable in the facts of this case. But will be fully implemented. The appellant (accused) would be considered to be under mental stress and could not have been convicted for any offense under the IPC. The prosecution’s argument was that since the accused had been acquitted of the offense under Section 309 of the IPC, the legal presumption under Section 115 of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 would not be applicable to the facts of this case. The High Court rejected this argument and said that during the arguments before the trial court, the prosecution itself had not seriously pressed the charge under Section 309 of the IPC.