Tunisha Sharma Suicide: Supreme Court lawyer explains 'abetment to suicide'; Actress' maid gives her statement

Tunisha Sharma (4 January 2002- 24 December 2022) died by suicide in her co-star Sheezan Khan's makeup room during the shoot of their show Alibaba: Dastaan-E-Kabul. This incident left fans, friends, and the entire entertainment fraternity in deep shock. Sheezan Khan, Tunisha's ex-boyfriend, was arrested soon after the late actress' mother, Vanita Sharma, filed a complaint against him and an abetment to suicide case was registered. Sheezan was arrested by the Waliv police under Section 306 of the IPC on December 25.

As the actress left no note when she took her life, her ex-boyfriend has become the prime suspect in the case. Tunisha’s mother has raised several allegations against Sheezan and told that he 'deceived' her daughter by giving her false hopes about marriage. Tunisha's mother also claimed that Sheezan used Tunisha for three-four months. Now, in a recent development, it has been reported that Tunisha’s house help Reshma has given her statement in the case. Whereas, Supreme Court’s lawyer Khushbu Jain also provided her insight if Sheezan Khan can be accused in ‘abetment to suicide.’

Tunisha’s house help Reshma’s statements

In Tunisha’s case, there is a fresh update aas her house help Reshma has given her statement to the police. She has been working for Tunisha and her mother for quite a long time. Reportedly, Reshma said that on the same day when Tunisha died by suicide, she was supposed to go to Chandigarh at night. The latter had also taken a leave for the trip. She further added that Sheezan used to stay with them for 4 to 5 days and he had promised the actress’ mother that he will marry Tunisha. However, after their breakup, Tunisha became very sad and she used to remain in depression, said Reshma.

Supreme Court lawyer explains ‘abetment to suicide’

Supreme Court lawyer Khusbhu Jain has explained what ‘abetment to suicide’ is and if Sheezan can be held responsible. She shared that, “The question as to what is the cause of a suicide has no straight answers because suicidal ideation and behaviours in human beings are convoluted and multifaceted. In the same situation, Different individuals react and behave differently because of the personal meaning they add to each event, thus accounting for individual vulnerability to suicide.”

She goes on to explain what ‘Abetment to Suicide’ is and said, “The case in question is revolving around abetment to suicide by Sheezan Khan. Abetment of suicide is an act of (1) abetting, (2) instigating, or (3) aiding the victim in committing suicide. After all of these ingredients of abetment of suicide are satisfied, only then can the prosecution create a case of abetment of suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.”

“The word "instigate" literally means to goad, urge forward, provoke, incite or encourage to do an act. A person is said to instigate another person when he actively suggests or stimulates him to an act by any means or language, direct or indirect, whether it takes the form of express solicitation or of hints, insinuation or encouragement. Instigation may be in (express) words or may be by (implied) conduct. The words "urge forward" means to advise or try hard to persuade somebody to do something, to make a person move more quickly in the particular direction, specially by pushing or forcing such a person. Therefore, a person instigating another has to "goad" or "urge forward" the latter with the intention to provoke, incite or encourage the doing of an act by the latter,” she added.

She further added how it be difficult to prove abetment charges and said, “It is difficult to prove abetment charges mainly due to three reasons: (a) lack of direct evidence, (b) nature of mens rea (guilty mind) involved, and (c) challenge in establishing causation between abettor’s actions and consequence. One major reason why it is difficult to prove abetment charges is that any kind or degree of direct evidence against the accused is hard to find. Much like other crimes, proof of guilty intent requires implicit conviction by the court – which requires solid circumstantial evidence over physical clues or testimony in most cases. However, since this type of behaviour usually takes place in secret, witnesses or tangible traces pointing towards offenders are scant. This makes it extremely tough to prove that an intentional crime has been committed by a single individual or group beyond any reasonable doubt.”

Khusbhu finally concluded by saying that the facts of the case need to be examined carefully: “In cases of alleged abetment of suicide there must be proof of direct or indirect acts of incitement to the commission of suicide. For holding Sheezan Khan guilty of an offence under Section 306 IPC, the facts and circumstances of the case needs to be examined scrupulously and also collect the evidence to find out whether the cruelty and harassment meted out to Tunisha had left her with no other alternative but to extinguish her life spark or to put an end to her life… which makes it imperative for the law enforcement agency to keep Sheezan Khan in custody till it is required for collection evidence to conclude whether Tunisha’s death is murder or suicide and whether Khan has played active role, which drove Tunisha to commit suicide.”

Tunisha’s funeral

The entertainment industry is deeply saddened by the demise of the 20-year-old actress. Several celebs like Karan Kundrra, Aly Goni, Sayantani Ghosh, Kanwar Dhillon, Rashami Desai, Jiya Shankar, Paras Arora, and Akanksha Puri took to their social media handles and extended condolences to the deceased’s family and loved ones. Tunisha's funeral was held on December 27, at 3 PM in a crematorium in Mira Road, Mumbai. Actors like Kanwar Dhillon, Shivin Narang, Avneet Kaur, Reem Shaikh, Vishal Jethwa, Sidharth Nigam, Abhishek Nigam, Deepika Singh, and many others attended Tunisha's last rites.

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