Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was charged with abetting the suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. Tharoor’s wife was found dead at a Delhi five star hotel in 2014. He has been charged under the IPC Section 306 (Abetment of Suicide) and Section 498A (Cruelty by Husband or Relatives.)
Mr. Tharoor denied the charges calling them preposterous. The Congress supported their MP and stated it was a politically motivated charge sheet. The charge sheet filed contains about 300 pages and names only Tharoor as an accused.
Section 498A can send Tharoor to prison for three years but Section 306 is a much more serious crime. If proven guilty, Tharoor will face a maximum of 10 years for abetting suicide.
The public prosecutor Atul Kumar Shrivastava listed the charges to the Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh. While filing the charge sheet Shrivastava asked Singh to summon the MP in Court. The hearing will be held on the 24th of May. The Court will send the case to a special court for parliamentarians after the hearing.
Senior Counsel Ramesh Gupta explained, “As the charge is non-bailable, the court may issue a warrant for an arrest. But in most such situations, the court will only summon the accused, also because Tharoor has made himself available for investigations throughout the period.”
There are three outcomes of the hearing:
- The Court can return the charge sheet for further investigation.
- It could accept the charges and issue a warrant as the charges are non bailable.
- The Court might disagree with the police and take no cognizance of the charges. In this case, Tharoor will be allowed to challenge the charges.
Sunanda Pushkar was 51 when she was found dead in a hotel suite a day after she publicly called her husband out on having an affair. Initially, the police stated Sunanda was poisoned and registered a murder case. However, the police now stated they have no proof of murder but confirm Sunanda was driven to suicide.
