India, July 29 -- A Thane court has acquitted a woman and her two friends accused of abetting her husband's suicide in 2018. The court observed that domestic quarrels or harsh words spoken during disputes do not amount to instigation under the law.

Mere harassment is "not sufficient"; there must be clear acts of "instigation or a proximate cause" driving the person to take the extreme step, Additional Sessions Judge V L Bhosale said in the judgment on Tuesday, July 28.

The evidence, even if taken at its highest, shows that there may have been domestic quarrels and some harsh words spoken in the course of those quarrels. However, "such conduct does not amount to abetment of suicide" as required under Indian Penal Code Section 306, partic...