New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has observed that merely ending a relationship does not, by itself, amount to instigation for abetment of suicide under criminal law.

Justice Manoj Jain made the remark while granting bail to a man accused of abetting the suicide of his former partner, who died by hanging five days after he married another woman.

Allowing the bail plea, the court noted that instigation must be of such a nature that it leaves the deceased with no option but to take their own life. It said only a full trial would determine whether the woman’s “extreme step” was the result of provocation or instigation, whether she was “hyper-sensitive”, or whether there were other reasons behind the act.

The court pointed out that there was no dying declaration in the case. It further noted that the couple had been in a relationship for around eight years without any prior complaint from the deceased during that period.

There was also a considerable gap between the time the two stopped communicating and the date of the suicide, the court observed.

“Apparently, it seems to be a case of a broken relationship and quite possibly, the deceased, having come to know that the applicant has got married to someone else, has chosen to finish herself,” the court said in its order dated 24 February.

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The judge added that although heartbreak and broken relationships have become common, a mere break-up does not automatically constitute instigation under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with abetment of suicide.

According to the deceased woman’s father, his daughter had been trapped by the accused and was pressured to convert to his religion in order to marry him. He alleged that the pressure led her to take her own life by hanging herself with a scarf in October 2025. The accused was arrested in November 2025.

However, the court noted that statements from the woman’s friends indicated she had been upset, but they made no mention of any pressure to convert. The accused had reportedly stopped speaking to her from February 2025 onwards.

The man was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and a surety bond of the same amount.

In his defence, the accused maintained that the relationship had been cordial for eight years but claimed the woman’s parents opposed it due to religious differences. He alleged that it was her parents who had compelled her to end the relationship.