 The case also extended to those who helped facilitate the deaths of individuals observing "Sallekhana," finding they were culpable under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) with aiding and abetting an act of suicide.It was also argued that "Sallekhana" "serves as a means of coercing widows and elderly relatives into taking their own lives".An attempt to commit suicide was a crime under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code.