The judge said the absence of a suicide note blaming the accused for her death cannot be sufficient to absolve him of the charges.
While Singh’s discharge plea was rejected on August 14, the detailed order was made available on Monday. In the order, the judge referred to the statement of a witness, a counsellor, that Pratyusha had cancelled an appointment with them just a day before the alleged suicide. She had earlier called a mental health helpline, saying she was depressed over her relationship issues for which she needed counselling.
The judge also said it was prima facie clear the accused facilitated supply of drugs to Pratyusha, despite knowing she was in a disturbed state of mind. Witnesses had also said that he had forced her to drink.
Judge S J Ansari said the harassment made her think of suicide. “The fact that he did not take any steps to alleviate her sufferings, in my opinion, will clearly bring him within the clutches of having abetted the suicide of the deceased as he could be said to have intentionally aided and incited the same, that is, the act of suicide, by his conduct,” the judge said.
The judge refuted the accused’s submissions that she was independent enough to end the relationship. “Such a decision may be difficult for a third person to understand. But the deceased, by this time having burnt her bridges, that is to say having isolated herself from her family and her friends in order to give her all to her relationship with the accused, could have found it difficult to break her ties with him, even though she could obviously see he was abusing her in all possible ways,” the judge said.
The judge said it was quite clear that Singh was using her romantic inclination towards him for his financial benefit. The judge further said the statements of the deceased’s parents, uncle, aunt, friends, employees, domestic help and neighbours prima facie show Singh slowly but surely took control of every aspect of her life. Her debit cards used to be with the accused and on some occasions she had to ask him even for small amounts of Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000, the judge said.
The judge said there is prima facie material to indicate Singh used to suspect her character and had physically assaulted her. The judge also pointed to abrasion marks found on the actor’s left wrist as noted in the post-mortem report.
Represented by advocate Shreyansh Mithare, Singh in his 2018 discharge plea denied the allegations and said Pratyusha and he were deeply in love and were to wed in December 2016. Accepting submissions made by public prosecutor A A Deotarse, the judge said a neighbour had stated he used to hear assault noises from their house and had seen her cry. The judge also referred to statements of two witnesses and said this will prima facie show that the accused did not let her work in series of her choice.
“…had he wanted to prevent her financial exploitation at the hands of her parents, then he would not have taken out almost Rs 5-6 lakh from her accounts and deposited the same in his… as that money could have been utilised by her in paying off her loans and in stabilising her life,” the judge said.
The court observed that the last conversation between Pratysha and Singh regarding her parents cannot be taken out of the context to hold that it was their conduct and the fact that she was penniless on account of not getting any work which could have prompted her to die by suicide.
Watch Pratyusha Banerjee died by suicide due to boyfriend Rahul Raj’s conduct. He had made her life a living hell, says court
