The Crime of Committing Suicide

Dr Vijita Ningombam *

Relatives mourning after a Minor commits 'suicide' at Sekmai Leipat on April 18 2014 :: Pix - TSE

The story of suicide is probably as old as that of man himself. Through the ages, suicide has variously been glorified, romanticized, bemoaned, and even condemned. Be it the tragic greek heros to the suicide bombers in the present world, the universality of suicide transcends religion and culture.

Ancient Indian texts contain stories of valor in which suicide is celebrated as a means to avoid shame and disgrace. Suicide has been mentioned in the great epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. When Lord Sri Ram passed away, there was an epidemic of suicide in his kingdom, Ayodhya. The sage Dadhichi sacrificed his life so that the Gods may use his bones in the war against the demons.

However there is a balancing act done by The Bhagavad Gita which condemns suicide for selfish reasons and posits that such a death cannot have shraddha- the all-important last rites. Brahmanical view had held that those who attempt suicide should fast for a stipulated period. Upanishads, the Holy Scriptures, condemn suicide and state that ‘he who takes his own life will enter the sunless areas covered by impenetrable darkness after death’.

People attempt suicide for a complex array of factors such as poverty, low literacy level, unemployment, family violence, breakdown of the joint family system, unfulfilled romantic ideals, inter-generational conflicts, loss of job or loved one, failure of crops, growing costs of cultivation, huge debt burden, unhappy marriages, domestic harassment, dowry disputes, depression, chronic physical illness, alcoholism/drug addiction.

Suicide in India is slightly above the average world rate. Of the half million people reported to die by suicide worldwide every year, 20% are Indians for 17% of world population. In the last two decades, the suicide rate has increased from 7.9 to 10.3 per 100,000. This is a big number, an issue of monstrous proportions and nothing less than cases of diarrhoea deaths for which India has created so many programmes to over come diarrhoea deaths. But what has the country done about suicide cases?

In India, attempted suicide is an offense punishable under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 309 reads thus: Attempt to commit suicide. “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.” Recently there was a news clip that said that home minister is in the process of effacing section 309 of IPC. But how long is it going to take?

When it is commonly known and accepted that there maybe a temporary or permanent suspension of good judgement of the people with suicidal tendency, should they be dragged into more instability of living in a prison? And is decriminalisation of attempt to suicide enough? Why would anyone who tries to attempt suicide come up for being treated of their unstable mind if they are not given an incentive of hope to be treated.

According to the WHO, every year, almost one million people die from suicide and 20 times more people attempt suicide; a global mortality rate of 16 per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds and one attempt every 3 seconds, on an average. This number will surely be more than the diarrhoea deaths, just that we do not have a proper count of the suicide attempt cases.

The writer’s experience in Psychiatry made her realise that the people with suicidal tendencies need serious attention in the form of counselling and treatments in accordance with the cause of the attempt. A person who has tried once is very likely to try again until they succeed so before we lose more people, it is very crucial to take up some serious steps at national levels to make people more aware that it is okay to some times think of giving up on life but we need to live and fight against anything, the only way we will know that it was worth living.

Legally, as it stands today, crime was committed by the people who succeeded at their attempt. An attempt was a moment of weakness, a moment of impulse that most people actually regret trying, We need to recognise that and help them instead.