MUMBAI: A spouse cannot be accused of abetting the suicide of his or her partner merely because there was marital discord between the two, the Bombay High Court has said while quashing a case lodged against a woman for abetting the suicide of her husband.

The HC’s Nagpur bench, in its order passed last week, held that matrimonial discord is common in domestic life and suicide cannot be attributed to any of the spouses merely because there was a matrimonial dispute. It added there has to be instigation or direct incitement from the accused to the victim to end life.

“In such cases, it cannot be held that due to abetment from one partner the other committed suicide,” the court said.

The bench allowed the plea filed by a 49-year-old woman, a teacher by profession, seeking to quash the abetment of suicide case filed against her in 2019 by the Amravati police.