The Bombay High Court has decided not to discharge businessman Gautam Khanduja from the 2004 abetment-to-suicide case linked to model Nafisa Joseph, who won the Miss India title in 1997. The court found sufficient grounds to continue legal proceedings against Khanduja. Joseph tragically took her own life after Khanduja reportedly ended their engagement.
A single-judge bench of justice MM Sathaye rejected Khanduja’s plea on Thursday, observing that the question of whether the allegations amounted to abetment could be decided only at trial. Joseph then insisted on seeing the divorce papers, but Khanduja refused to show her the decree and eventually called off the wedding, citing her short temper. Joseph had two previous broken engagements.
Her third failed engagement allegedly prompted her to take her life on July 29, 2004, according to the FIR registered against Khanduja under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC. The trial court rejected his plea for discharge on August 24, 2005.
“It is true that strong suspicion cannot take the place of proof, but that can only be decided at the stage of trial,” the court said. Khanduja had told Joseph that he had divorced his wife, Naushin Khan, according to police. Trouble arose when his mother allegedly told Joseph that he was not divorced.
Assistant public prosecutor Manisha R Tidke opposed the plea, saying the couple was engaged, their marriage date had been fixed and invitation cards had been distributed. His last-minute refusal to marry, she argued, left Joseph feeling humiliated and fearing disrepute to herself and her family. “It appears that the parties knew each other’s past.
Whether the applicant’s refusal to marry and non-supply of divorce papers proved to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back will have to be decided at the trial,” justice Sathaye said.
