Page 7 - Suicides

Supreme Court to hear PIL for setting up of National Commission for Men

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on July 3 a PIL seeking framing of guidelines to deal with suicide by married men subjected to domestic violence and constitution of a 'National Commission for Men' to safeguard their interests. According to the apex court website, a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta has listed the PIL for hearing on Monday. The plea filed by advocate Mahesh Kumar Tiwari has cited the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data published in 2021 on accidental deaths in India which said 1,64,033 people died by suicide across the country that year. Out of these, 81,063 were married men, while 28,680 were married women, the petition said. "Around 33.2 per cent men ended their lives because of family problems and 4.8 per cent due to marriage related issues in the year 2021. In this year total 1,18,979 men have committed suicides which are about (72 per cent) and total 45,026 women have committed suicides which are about 27 per cent," the plea sa

Screen inmates' mental health to prevent in-prison suicides: NHRC

The NHRC has suggested screening inmates' mental health at the time of admission and constant monitoring of at-risk prisoners to bring down instances of suicides among them. The human rights body also recommended improving prison architecture and its environment to mitigate suicide attempts by prisoners in judicial custody. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said it has observed that most of the unnatural deaths of prisoners occur due to suicide. In an advisory issued to the central and state governments and the Union Territories, the NHRC emphasised keeping barracks and toilets, where most suicides take place, free of such objects as can be used for hanging, for instance, iron rods, grills, fans, and hooks. It also suggested encouraging visits by family members of the prisoner and or at least phone talk to keep inmates off the edge. The commission gave the suggestions in a letter which was also sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bureau of Police Research and Developme

Raj HC takes suo motu cognizance of rising suicides in coaching institutes

The court gave this direction in the matter of taking suo motu cognizance on the incidents of suicide by the students of coaching institutes of Kota

Google's pre-written texts to tackle suicide, aid people to ask for help

Google is also expanding its work with mental health organisations, especially those focused on helping certain populations like children and veterans

Create awareness than ridicule: Cong slams PM Modi over 'suicide note' joke

The Congress on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a joke made by him involving a suicide note, with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra saying that the PM and those laughing heartily at his joke ought to educate themselves better rather than "ridicule" mental health issues in an "insensitive" manner. Prime Minister Modi, while speaking at a media channel conclave on Wednesday, narrated a joke about a professor reading a suicide note by his daughter and remarking how she had got a spelling wrong despite his efforts for so many years. The joke was made by the prime minister while also remarking that the editor-in-chief of the channel had started speaking well in Hindi. In a tweet in Hindi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said thousands of families lose their children to suicide and "the prime minister should not make fun of them". Tagging the video of Modi's joke at the conclave, Priyanka Gandhi in a tweet said, "Depression and suicide, especially among the youth IS NOT a laughing

The HR ailment of public sector banks

Incidents of suicides highlight the prevalent work culture in PSBs

India punishes those who attempt suicide despite Mental Health Act

Early one Sunday morning, Latha (not her real name) and her husband were woken by police at their door demanding she accompany them to the local station. Having just returned from the hospital where she had received emergency treatment for attempting to poison herself, Latha had been relieved and grateful to finally be back home. But following this police harassment and intrusive questioning by her neighbours, a deep sorrow began to envelop her again. Latha's story is sadly very common in India. In 2021, over 164,000 people were reported to have died by suicide in the country, a 7.2 per cent increase in the number of suicides compared to 2020. Attempted suicide was a punishable offence under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code until the passing of the Mental Healthcare Act in 2018, which in effect decriminalised suicide by creating a massive exception to Section 309. Section 115 of the act presumes that a person who has attempted suicide is under severe stress. Instead of punishm

Three years into pandemic, Himachal sees 14% decline in suicide cases

The spurt in number of suicides witnessed in the immediate wake of the COVID pandemic due to job loss, poor health, and uncertainty about future, has relented a little, declining by 14 per cent from 889 in 2021 to 758 in 2022. A total of 2,502 persons committed suicide in the past three years between 2020 and 2022 with a majority of them men at 1,710 and the rest 792 women. As per the data procured from the police department, 709 persons committed suicide in 2019 with the number rising to 855 and 889 in 2020 and 2021 respectively during the peak COVID 19 pandemic. According to police, the maximum number of people who committed suicide were labourers (28 per cent) followed by housewives (24 per cent), students (11 per cent), private employees (10 per cent), businessmen and government employees (4 per cent each), farmers (three per cent), and others (16 per cent). The suicide cases were attributed to marriage related issue, financial issues, drug addiction, sickness, unemployment, ..

Farmers committing suicide is not new issue: Maharashtra agri minister

Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar has said the farmers committing suicide is not a new issue and such incidents had been happening for many years. He was responding to a query by reporters who sought his comment on suicides committed by farmers in his constituency, Sillod, in Aurangabad district recently. "The issue of farmer suicide is not new. Such incidents are happening for many years. I feel suicides by farmers should not take place anywhere in Maharashtra, including my constituency," said Sattar, a member of the Shiv Sena faction headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. At least two farmers had ended their lives in Sillod during March 3 to 12, police had said. However, sources claimed at least six agriculturists had ended their lives in Aurangabad district in the Marathwada region during the same period, prima facie due to indebtedness. He said a committee has been set up under Agriculture Commissioner to study this issue. Sattar on Sunday inspected losses caused

Feds say cyberattack caused outage of 988 suicide helplines in US

A cyberattack caused a nearly daylong outage of the nation's new 988 mental health helpline late last year, federal officials told The Associated Press on Friday. Lawmakers are now calling for the federal agency that oversees the programme to prevent future attacks. On December 1, the voice calling functionality of the 988 Lifeline was rendered unavailable as a result of a cybersecurity incident, Danielle Bennett, a spokeswoman for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said in an email. The attack occurred on the network for Intrado, the company that provides telecommunications services for the helpline. The agency did not disclose details about who it believes launched the attack or what kind of cyberattack occurred. Intrado is working with a third-party assessor to investigate the incident and law enforcement agencies have been notified of the breach, SAMHSA said. The national 988 phone number, which can be reached by text, chat or voice calling, has beco

Fixing relevance: Twitter restores suicide prevention after backlash

"We know they are useful and our intent was not to have them down permanently"

Youth suicide rate up in South Korea; Covid-19 remains top reason of death

Youth suicide rate in S Korea increased in 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic to remain as their No. 1 cause of death, in yet another sign of a chronic problem that has plagued the country for years

115 daily wagers, 43 salaried people died by suicide each day in 2021: Govt

The number of housewives who killed themselves last year was a staggering 23,179, meaning at least 63 housewives died every day in the country, the data showed

One farmer suicide every 8 hours: Maharashtra Congress president

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Monday said the Eknath Shinde government must be dismissed as it had become numb to the pain of farmers affected by heavy rains. He claimed at least one farmer was ending his life every eight hours in the state due to these woes. Speaking to reporters after meeting Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, he said crops like cotton, soybean, tur, corn had faced extensive damage, leaving cultivators deeply distressed. "The state government led by (chief minister) Eknath Shinde and (Deputy CM) Devendra Fadnavis must be dismissed as it is numb to the woes of farmers, who are facing acute financial problems," he said. "At present, on an average, one farmer is ending his life every eight hours. The state government has still not declared wet drought. Moreover, youth are angry that big projects are leaving the state," he alleged.

Is India's highest suicide rate due to better reporting or rising distress?

A death by suicide is defined as the deliberate termination of life

Maharashtra: Depressed by delay in getting iPhone, teenage girl hangs self

An 18-year-old college student in Nagpur city of Maharashtra allegedly committed suicide by hanging over her parents "delaying" the buying of an iPhone for her, police said on Sunday. The deceased girl was a student in the first-year degree course at Raisoni College in Hingna town in the Nagpur district. She hanged herself from a ceiling fan with a stole in the bedroom of her house in the Kharbi area of Nagpur city on Friday evening, a police official said. "As per the preliminary investigation, the teenage girl had repeatedly asked her parents to buy her an iPhone. Her parents, who run a 'Griha Udyog' , had promised to buy her one. However, due to the delay in purchasing the iPhone, the girl presumed that her parents were reluctant to fulfil her demand and took the extreme step on Friday," he said. Police have recorded the statement of the deceased girl's father and registered a case of accidental death.

Only a few individuals with suicidal tendencies say it online: UP Police

Only a fraction of such individuals with suicidal tendencies tend to express their feelings on social media, but 99 per cent of them do not express their intention online.

Under pressure to frame me, CBI officer committed suicide, says Sisodia

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday claimed that a CBI officer committed suicide as he was pressured to frame him in a false excise case. He also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he only thinks of destabilising governments in non-BJP states by poaching MLAs. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had last month raided the Delhi residence of Sisodia after it registered an FIR to investigate alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy brought out in November last year. "A CBI officer was pressured to frame me in false excise case. He could not take the mental pressure and died by suicide two days ago. This is really unfortunate, I am deeply hurt," Sisodia alleged during a press conference. "I want to ask PM why officers are being pressured so much that they are forced to take such extreme steps. Arrest me if you want, but don't destroy families of your officers," he added. He also asked Modi if 'Operation Lotu

NCP blames Centre's policies for most daily wagers ending life in 2021

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday blamed the policies of the Union government for the large number of daily wagers committing suicide in 2021, as revealed in data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The latest NCRB report has stated that one in every four deaths by suicide in the country were of daily wage earners. The Sharad Pawar-led outfit lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-headed government at the Centre over the plight of daily wage workers. It is a shocking figure and it is happening because the unorganised sector has been crushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He randomly announced the policy of demonetization (in 2016) and followed it up with a hasty and unplanned implementation of the GST (goods and services tax) system, said Mahesh Tapase, chief spokesperson, Maharashtra NCP. The coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdowns left small traders, artisans and labourers devastated, but the BJP government at the Centre never cared

More suicides by businesspersons than farmers for second year in a row

Seeking help brings solutions, say mental health experts