New Delhi, May 11: The validity of the penal provision on prosecution of traumatized survivors of suicides was today challenged in the Delhi High Court which asked the Centre to apprise it of its views of the legislations on the issue. Without issuing a notice, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra asked the Ministry of Law and Justice to give its opinion within eight weeks. The bench was hearing a PIL, filed by NGO Mental Health Foundation, seeking repealment of section 309 (punishment for attempt to commit suicide) of the IPC on the ground that it was “inhuman” and against the fundamental right to life of the Constitution. A person, if convicted for attempting the suicide, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both, the penal provision prescribed. “We cannot issue a writ of mandamus to the government. Certainly, we can ask the government about its views on the Law Commission”s recommendation (favouring repealment of the penal provision),” the bench, also comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna, said.
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