Madhya Pradesh police booked a 45-year-old farmer for allegedly consuming poison in Bhopal office of Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board (MPSEB) in protest of receiving inflated power bill of Rs 77,900 followed by disconnection by the department officials on Sunday, 24 March.
The Bairagarh police registered a case against Awadh Narayan Sisodia, a resident of Behta village of Bhopal district for attempting suicide in front of the electricity board office on Saturday, 22 March. The case has been registered under Section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
The police said the condition of farmer is critical but he is recovering quickly.
According to the police report, the farmer was in distress after being issued an inflated power bills of Rs 77,900. On receiving a high power bill, he rushed to the electricity board officials for correction but the officials paid no heed to his demand. After running pillar to post for more than a month, he chose not to pay the bills.
But, last week, the electricity department snapped his power connection due to which he could not irrigate his vegetable crop, leading to crop damage, whereupon Sisodia came to the power distribution company’s office on Saturday for the same but when he didn’t receive any response, he consumed poison.
Illegal Use of Section 309 IPC?
The inspector of Bairagarh confirmed to The Quint that the case has in fact been registered under Section 309 of the IPC, on a prima facie basis given the facts of the case. When this reporter pointed out that attempt to commit suicide has in fact been decriminalised under the Mental Healthcare Act 2017, the inspector professed ignorance of the change of law. “We have not received any advisory regarding abolition of Section 309,” he said.
The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 was notified on 29 May 2018. Since that date, a person who attempts suicide is to be presumed to be under “severe stress” unless proved otherwise, and cannot be tried and punished under Section 309 or any other provision of the IPC. The government is under a duty to provide “care, treatment and rehabilitation” of such a person (see Section 115 of the Mental Healthcare Act 2017).
It is disturbing to see that the local police haven’t been notified of a legal development that came into force almost a year ago. In the absence of any proof that the farmer was not in fact under stress, the FIR is illegal and liable to be quashed.
Suicide Note to Kamal Nath
In a two page suicide note addressed to chief Minister Kamal Nath, the farmer, Awadhnarayan Sisodia shared his ordeal. In the note he said, “he had installed a motor of five horsepower on his agricultural land two years ago. Since then, he has been paying an average monthly bill of Rs 2,000 to power discoms. But on 27 January his meter reading was taken by MPEB officials and after deducting subsidy he was issued an electricity bill of Rs 77,900.”
The station house officer (SHO) of Bairagarh police station Ajay Mishra said the farmer has been admitted in a hospital where his statement was recorded. He stated the electricity bill to be the reason for suicide.
Refuting the allegation that an inflated bill was issued, the power distribution company’s assistant engineer Anil Verma said, “The connection was snapped as the bill of Rs 65,000 was pending in the farmer’s name. We asked him to pay the bill in instalments and that the power connection would be resumed after his paying first instalment but he didn’t agree.”
CM Orders Probe
Taking the issue on a serious note, the Chief minister Kamal Nath ordered a probe into the farmer’s suicide attempt.
Nath ordered Bhopal district collector Sudam Khade to probe the matter. The chief minister has asked the collector to find out whether the farmer was not heard by MPSEB officials, whether the electricity bill received by the farmer was excessively high and whether he was deliberately persecuted. He said whosoever is found guilty on these points should be severely punished.
Besides, Nath instructed the principal secretary of the energy department to redress the problems of bill related issue of all consumers coming to electricity office with immediate effect. No pressure shall be exerted on the name of non payment.
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