Govt. decides to delete Section 309 of IPC from Statute book

The government has decided to delete/strike off Section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) from the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the recommendation of the Law Commission of India.

"18 states and 4 Union Territory Administrations have supported that Section 309 of the IPC may be deleted. Keeping in view the responses from the States/UTs, it has been decided to delete Section 309 of IPC from the statute book," said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in its statement released on Wednesday.

The Law Commission of India had in its 210th Report, recommended that Section 309 of the IPC needed to be effaced from the statute book.

"Law Commission of India had recommended that Section 309 (attempt to suicide) of IPC needs to be deleted from statute book," the MHA statement added.

Section 309 of the IPC says that whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both.