Man gets five years jail for abetting minor son`s suicide

Mumbai: In a rare verdict, a man has been sentenced to five years imprisonment by a local court for abetting the suicide of his 11-year-old son whom he frequently battered to discipline as he skipped school.

Sessions Judge NG Gimekar convicted 40-year-old Diwan Singh, a gas cylinder supplier, under section 305 (abetment of suicide of a child or insane person) IPC. The court, while delivering its judgement last Friday, noted that there was evidence to suggest that the boy had ended his life as he was suffering from severe depression because of frequent beatings by his father. The boy, a fourth standard student at Oriental School at suburban Oshiwara, used to live with his father in a one-room tenement at Adarsh Nagar. Singh`s estranged wife and minor daughter lived in Uttarakand after separation in 2007. According to prosecution, on July 13 last year, when Singh returned home he saw his son lying unconscious in the bathroom. He then rushed the child to a government hospital where he was declared dead. The post mortem report indicated that the boy had consumed phenyl. 20 bruise marks were seen on the boy`s body and there were also signs of hemorrhaging. Singh had admitted before the police that he used to beat his son to discipline him as he used to bunk school and run away from home. On certain occasions, Singh said, he had filed missing complaints with the police. PTI