New Delhi, Aug. 20 -- The Supreme Court has held that ordinary administrative directions, disciplinary supervision, adverse remarks on an official's performance, even stern behaviour by a superior, however unpleasant they may have been perceived by the deceased, cannot by themselves be elevated to the offence of abetment of suicide under the penal law.

A bench of justices Satish Chandra Sharma and N Kotiswar Singh said that there must be additional material demonstrating a conscious intention to drive a subordinate to commit suicide, along with a proximate act amounting to instigation or intentional aid.

"Criminal liability under Section 306 of the IPC (abetment to suicide) cannot rest upon the tragedy of the outcome alone; it must be f...