INDORE — The Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that final WhatsApp messages sent by a deceased individual to a family member prior to taking their own life can be treated as a “crucial prima facie dying declaration”. Justice Jai Kumar Pillai upheld a trial court order rejecting the bail applications of three men accused of abetting the suicide of a 25-year-old tribal man in Dhar district, dismissing their appeals filed under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The case concerns the death of Santosh, also known as Lakhan Ausari, a resident of village Jharipada, who hanged himself following continuous harassment, verbal abuse, and death threats allegedly linked to an agricultural land dispute. According to prosecution records, moments before his death on May 7, Ausari sent three consecutive WhatsApp text messages to his father’s mobile phone, explicitly identifying the accused individuals—Karan Jat, Dharmendra Jat, and Umesh Jat.
During the appeal hearing, legal counsel representing the accused argued that the trio was falsely implicated due to prior rivalry and asserted that the electronic records lacked required documentation. However, the High Court observed that the Panchnama documenting the mobile phone messages, alongside corroborative statements from the victim’s father and brother detailing systematic harassment, provided sufficient grounds to maintain custody. The single-judge bench emphasized that evidentiary defences raised by the appellants are matters to be tested during trial rather than evaluated comprehensively during bail proceedings.
