India, Feb. 18 -- A surviving partner in a mutual suicide agreement is criminally liable for abetting the death of the other, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday as it affirmed the two-year jail term awarded to Gudipalli Siddhartha Reddy, who was in a relationship with South Indian film actress Prathyusha when she fatally consumed poison in 2002.

A bench of justices Rajesh Bindal and Manmohan held that Reddy's conduct in entering into and acting upon a suicide pact "falls squarely" within the ambit of abetment under Section 107 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). His participation, the court said, directly facilitated the actress's suicide and attracted criminal liability under Section 306 (abetment to commit suicide) under the Indian Penal C...