Jiah suicide case: Suraj Pancholi gets bail from High Court

The Bombay High Court today granted bail to Suraj Pancholi, son of actor Aditya Pancholi, while observing that he cannot be held solely responsible for the "impulsive" act of suicide committed by actress Jiah Khan.
"No doubt that it was an unfortunate incident that a young girl has committed suicide. She (Jiah) must have been impulsive and he (Suraj) cannot be held solely responsible for it," Justice Sadhna Jadhav said.
Suraj, 22, arrested on June 10, has been granted bail on a surety of Rs 50,000. The court has directed him to surrender his passport and appear before the Juhu police every alternate day.

The court also observed that the letter, purportedly written by Jiah and recovered from her house, could not be taken as a suicide note as it is not addressed to anyone and is not dated.
"The question is if the script recovered from the deceased's house is addressed to the applicant (Suraj) or is it just extracts from her diary? Whether it can be called suicide note at all? When there is no date on it can it be linked to the day she committed suicide? " the court queried.
It added that the letter written by Jiah never reached the applicant.

"Therefore it cannot be said that the emotions expressed in the letter ever reached the applicant," Justice Jadhav said.
The court also held that Suraj never nurtured an intent or "mens rea" (motive) to push the girl to commit suicide.
"She was in the relationship on her own volition. It all depends on the pscyhe of the person. It cannot be ignored that Jiah had suicidal tendencies. Earlier also she had attempted suicide and it was the applicant who took care of her," Justice Jadhav said, adding that the deceased's mother was not even aware of this incident.