Is it constitutionally permissible to penalize suicide? This question arose in the Supreme Court in P. Rathinam v. Union of India12 (Rathinam). Hearing the writ petition challenging the constitutional validity of Section 309, the court rightly held that an attempt to commit suicide indicated a psychological problem rather than any criminal instinct. After weighing every possible legal and moral implication of treating a suicide attempt as a criminal offence, the court struck down Section 309 of the IPC as being void and ineffectual. In fact, the court held that Section 309 contravened the
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